Influence of Spiritual Health and Fatigue on Depression in Breast Cancer Patients

Abstract

Purpose: This study was to examine the impact of spiritual health and fatigue on the depression among breast cancer patients. The research design was descriptive study. Methods: Data were collected through three structured questionnaires: the ‘Spiritual Health Scale’, developed by Highfield, ‘Fatigue Scale’ developed and revised by Piper, ‘Depression Scale’ developed by Zung. The participants of this study were 161 breast cancer patients of both in-patient and out-patient units from two general hospitals in B metropolitan city. The data were analyzed using t-test, ANOVA, Scheffe’ s test, Pearson’ s correlation coefficients, and Stepwise multiple regression. Results: Participants with higher depression had lower scores for spiritual health (r= - .71, p< .001) and higher scores for fatigue (r=.57, p< .001). The factors seen as contributing to depression were spiritual health, fatigue and cancer insurance. These variables were explained 57.4% of the variance in depression. spiritual health were explained 50.5%. Conclusion: The depression of breast cancer patients can be reduced if spiritual health is impoved and fatigue is decreased. Therefore, we suggest developing nursing intervention program that leads to improve spiritual health and decrease fatigue of breast cancer patients for reducing depression.