[A correlational study among perceived stress, anger expression, and depression in cancer patients].
OBJECTIVE
This study was to identify the relationship between perceived stress, anger expression, and level of depression in cancer patients.


METHODS
A cross-sectional descriptive study design was used. Data was collected by questionnaires from 185 in- and out-patients who were diagnosed with cancer at 3 university hospitals and the National Cancer Center using Spielberger et al.'s Anger Expression Scale, Cohen, Kamarch & Mermelstein's Perceived Stress, and Derogatise's SCL-90. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficient, and stepwise multiple regression with SAS/PC.


RESULTS
The perceived stress in cancer patients indicated a significant positive correlation to anger-in(r=.288, p=.000), anger-out(r=.232, p=.001), and depression(r=.68, p=.000), but no significant correlation to anger-control. The anger-in of cancer patients showed a significant positive relationship to anger-out(r=.53, p=.000), and depression(r=.383, p=.000), but no significant correlation to anger-control. Anger-out showed a significantly negative correlation to anger-control(r=-.248, p=.001) and a positive correlation to depression(r=.240, p=.001). The most significant predictor which influenced depression in cancer patients was perceived stress, followed by anger-in and hobby, and these factors explained their depression with a variance of 54%.


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggested that cancer patients with a high degree of perceived stress are likely to be high in anger-out and anger-in. Perceived stress and anger-in are major factors which affect depression in cancer patients.
Lee
Pyong Sook
PS
Korea University College of Nursing, Seoul, Korea. pslee@korea.ac.kr
Sohn
Jung Nam
JN
Lee
Yong Mi
YM
Park
Eun Young
EY
Park
Ji Sun
JS
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000786:Anger; D003863:Depression / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological