Basic Survey on Early Detection of Depression in Cancer Patients by Palliative Care Unit Nurses

Abstract

Abstract

Objective：The purpose of this study was to investigate the current situation of nursing care regarding depression in cancer patients, and to address issues related to nursing care.

Methods：The study was approved by the ethics board of the affiliated university．Data were collected by mail．We sent a questionnaire survey of 435 palliative care unit nurses in Japan．The questionnaire comprised the following：objective items related to depression (35 items)；subjective items related to depression (37 items)；communication skill (22 items)；balancing factors such as realistic perception of the event, adequate situation support, and adequate coping mechanisms (total 38 items)；years of nursing experience；years of palliative care practice, etc.

Results：Valid responses were obtained from 250 nurses (57.5％)．

1) More than 70％ of the nurses were aged 30～49．Their average number of years of nursing experience was 16.6 (SD ± 7.5), and their average number of years of palliative care experience was 5.1 (SD ± 2.8)．

2) More than 75％ of respondents answered “always” and “sometimes” to 32/35 objective items related to depression and 10/37 subjective items related to depression．

3) More than 75％ of respondents answered “always” and “sometimes” to 19/22 items regarding communication skill and “always” to 20/38 items regarding balancing factors.

4) Multiple regression analysis indicated that objective and subjective items related to depression were significantly associated with communication skill (β=0.247～0.414, p＜0.001).

Conclusion：These findings indicate that improvement of communication skills for listening to patients’ subjective views based on observation and sufficient objective observation are required for early detection of depression in cancer patients.