Social support and depression, anxiety, stress among cancer patients receiving treatment at the Oncology Department, Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital in 2022

Abstract

The cross - sectional study on 430 cancer patients receiving treatment at the Oncology Department, Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital aimed to assess the levels of depression, anxiety, stress and to examine the relationship between social support and depression, anxiety, stress among participants. The DASS-21 scale was used to evaluate the status of depression, anxiety and stress; the MSPSS scale was used for social support assessment. The results showed that the prevalence of patients experiencing symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress was 29.1%, 44.0% and 20.9%, respectively. The prevalence of patients having low, moderate and high social support was 2.1%, 52.8% and 45.1%, respectively. There was a statistically significant association between social support and depression, anxiety, stress (p < 0.05). Social support activities need to be enhanced in order to improve the status of depression, anxiety and stress among cancer patients.