Study on characteristics of physical self of head and neck cancer patients with depression

Abstract

Objective To study the relationship between depression and physical self and related factors of head and neck cancer patients(HNCPs). Methods One hundred and twenty-eight HNCPs were assessed with self-rating depression scale, physical self scale, negative physical self scale and symptom checklist-90(SCL-90). SPSS 16.0 was used to analyze the data. Results The evaluation of appearance, sport characters and figure characters were significantly different between sexual groups, the average physical self scale level of the male patients was higher than that of the females(3.33±0.56 vs. 2.87±0.32, P<0.05). The appearance, sport characters, figure characters and sexual characters of physical self-concept were significantly different between age groups, the body satisfaction scale from higher to lower were under 45 years old patients, beyond 60 years old, between 46 and 59 years old . Conclusion The evaluation of appearance is reversely correlated with the score of SCL-90, the evaluation of short, appearance and fat in negative physical self are positively correlated with the score of SCL-90. Key words: Head and neck cancer; Cancer related depression; Physical self; Related factors