COMPARING DEPRESSION IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS WITH CANCER WITH HEALTHY ONES

The cancer is a chronic illness and depression is one of the important
psychological factors in its patients. In order to help these patients and show the necessity of needed
psychological interventions, this study was aimed to compare depression rate among children and
adolescents with cancer and healthy ones.
Materials & Methods: This research was the causal-comparative type research. In this study, 65
children and adolescents 8-17 years old who went to Mahak Institute and 64 healthy children and
adolescents were selected by available sampling method and all completed Child and Adolescent
Depression Scale.
Results: According to results, the mean of scores of depression in children and adolescents with
cancer (11.42) were significantly (P<0.05) higher than healthy group (8.42). Also, the results indicated
significant difference (P<0.05) in the mean of scores of depression between girls with cancer (12.08)
and healthy girls (7.87) but there were no significant difference in the mean of scores of depression
between boys with cancer (10.78) and healthy boys (8.99).
Conclusion: Depression in children and adolescents with cancer is higher than healthy ones and this
matter can disrupt disease development and improvement. Therefore, effective psychological
interventions are necessary to reduce depression rate in these patients.