The Assessment of Depression in Siblings of Children with Cancer: A Pilot Study

Year 2022, Volume: 7 Issue: 3, 489 - 494, 30.09.2022

İbrahim Eker , Özge Vural Hamide Nur Çevik Özdemir , Elif Bilge Kelebek , Nihan Çakaloğulları , Naci Gültekin , Özge Kaya , Esma Kural , Bilge Mumyakmaz , Orçun Öztürk , Nevzat Sakarya

Abstract

Objective: When compared to other siblings, siblings of cancer patients have a reduced quality of life, impaired emotional functionality, and post-traumatic stress symptoms. The present study aimed to determine the depression levels of the siblings of children with cancer.
Material and Method: The present study is descriptive and cross-sectional. Thirty healthy siblings of children with cancer who were followed up in the pediatric hematology-oncology service of a university hospital were included in the study. Descriptive information form and the Child Depression Inventory (CDI) was applied to the siblings. Results: It was found that 33.3% of the siblings had depression. When they were first informed about their siblings' illness, 60% of the participants stated that they experienced fear and approximately 34% experienced sadness. All the siblings stated that the financial situation of their families was affected during the illness. There was no significant difference between the siblings' depression scores and their gender or age.
Conclusion: Siblings of children with cancer experience depression and psychological reactions associated with cancer. There is a need to improve siblings' cancer-related problems with family-based psychosocial interventions. In future studies, empirical, intervention studies with larger samples are needed on the subject.

Keywords

Depression, siblings, child with cancer

Thanks

The authors are grateful to acknowledge all participating siblings and patients in this study.

Kanserli Çocukların Kardeşlerinde Depresyonun Değerlendirilmesi: Bir Pilot Çalışma

Abstract

Amaç: Kanserli çocukların kardeşleri, diğer kardeşlere göre daha düşük yaşam kalitesi, zayıf duygusal işlevsellik ve travma sonrası stres belirtileri göstermektedir. Bu çalışmanın amacı kanserli çocukların kardeşlerinin depresyon düzeylerini belirlemektir.
Gereç ve Yöntem: Tanımlayıcı, kesitsel tipte bir çalışmadır. Çalışmaya bir üniversite hastanesinin çocuk hematoloji-onkoloji servisinde takip edilen kanserli çocukların sağlıklı 30 kardeşi alındı. Kardeşlere tanımlayıcı bilgi formu ve Çocuk Depresyon Envanteri (ÇDE) uygulandı.
Bulgular: Kardeşlerin %33,3’ünde depresyon olduğu saptandı. Kardeşlerinin hastalıklarını ilk duyduklarında katılımcıların %60’ı korku, yaklaşık %34’ü üzüntü yaşadığını bildirdi. Kardeşlerin tamamı hastalık sürecinde ailelerin maddi durumlarının etkilendiğini belirtti. Kardeşlerin cinsiyet ve yaşları ile depresyon skorları arasında anlamlı farklılık saptanmadı.
Sonuç: Kanserli çocukların kardeşleri kanserle ilişki depresyon ve psikolojik reaksiyonlar yaşamaktadır. Kardeşlerin kanserle ilgili sıkıntılarını aile temelli psikososyal müdahalelerle iyileştirmeye ihtiyaç vardır. Gelecekteki çalışmalarda konu ile ilgili daha geniş örneklemli ampirik çalışmalara ihtiyaç vardır.

Keywords

Depresyon, Kardeş, Kanserli çocuk

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