Investigation on the level of hopelessness,anxiety and depression in hospitalized patients with cancer

Abstract

Objective To investigate the suicide related psychological status of cancer patients in hospital. Methods 508 cancer patients in the Affiliated-Tumor-Hospital-of-Guangxi-Medical-University were recruited and using the hospital anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS) for evaluating cancer patients' anxiety, depression, hopelessness. According to age, the patients were divided into three groups, comparing the differences in three groups' scores of anxiety, depression, hopelessness. Results Of all the respondents, there were 38.7% (172/445) patients with anxiety, and 26.3% (117/445) patients with depression, and 59.1% (263/445) patients with different degrees of hopelessness. In the comparison of three groups of patients, anxiety scores existed differences (U=7.083, P 0.05). Conclusions Many people have anxiety /depression in cancer patients, most cancer patients have varying degrees of hopelessness. The health care workers should get attention to these suicide related psychology, take appropriate intervention, in order to avoid the occurrence of hospitalized cancer patients committing suicide. Key words: Tumor; Anxiety; Depression; Hopelessness; Investigation