Sense of coherence as a mediator between perceived stress and depression in newly diagnosed breast cancer patients: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

To determine whether sense of coherence acts as a mediator between perceived stress and depression in newly diagnosed breast cancer patients. A single face-to-face interview was administered to characterize sociodemographic, clinical, and psychological characteristics; perceived stress scale (PSS), sense of coherence scale (SOC) and Hamilton depression scale (HAMD). Part of the characterize sociodemographic information was extracted from the women’s medical charts. The interview was with 1100 patients newly diagnosed with breast cancer from breast wards in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China; 1046 respondents completed this survey from May 2018 to March 2019. A data analysis was conducted based on correlation analysis, multiple linear regression, and structural equation model. The total score of the sense of coherence was negatively correlated with perceived stress (r = −0.595, p < 0.01) and depression (r = −0.821, p < 0.01), and the total scores of perceived stress and depression were positively correlated (r = 0.755, p < 0.01). As indicated from the structural equation model, sense of coherence had a partial mediation effect between perceived stress and depression, with the mediator effect of 0.566, taking up 63.1% of the total effect. Sense of coherence acted as a mediator between perceived stress and depression in newly diagnosed breast cancer patients, demonstrating that medical staff should actively assess patients’ sense of coherence level to provide personalized interventions for patients.