The Relationship between Anxiety, Depression, and Quality of Life among Women with Breast Cancer

Abstract

Anxiety and depression, as common psychological disturbances among patients with breast cancer, might negatively influence their quality of life. The present study aims to explore the relationship between anxiety and depression, in one hand, and quality of life, in the other hand, among these patients. In the present correlational study, 97 women with breast cancer referring to Seyedoshohada Hospital, Isfahan, Iran, were selected through simple random sampling. The participants filled out Life Orientation Test (LOT), Snyder Adult Hope Scale, and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Pearson product moment correlation and independent samples t-test were run in SPSS (version 22) to analyze the data. The mean of anxiety, depression, and Quality of Life were 10.21±4.79, 8.31±4.74, and 63.74±19.20, respectively. The total score of anxiety and depression was 18.53±9.02. The Pearson correlation coefficient indicated a statistically significant inverse relationship between Quality of Life and anxiety (r=-.48, p<.01) as well as depression (r=-.52, p<.01), indicating patients with more anxiety and depression had lower quality of life. Therefore, it is highly suggested that, along with conventional treatments, initial assessment and screening of anxiety and depression be paid more attention, and necessary interventions be made to reduce them among patients with breast cancer, enhancing these patients’ quality of life.