Investigation of anxiety, depression and sexual life quality in women with the diagnosis of breast cancer

Abstract

Materials and methods: The universe of this study consisted of 240 women aged between 18-and 65 who were diagnosed with breast cancer. The study sample consisted of 180 female patients with breast cancer who accepted to participate in the study. The data were collected by using the "Personal Information Form", "Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale," and "Sexual Life Quality Scale". In evaluating data, percentage, mean, Kruskal Wallis, Mann Whitney U, and Correlation analyzes were used. Results: The mean age of the patients with breast cancer was 52 years; 50% were primary school graduates, 21,1% worked, and 66,1% were middle income. 10.6% of patients had significant anxiety, and 13.9% had significant depression. Anxiety is affected by the status of income, type of place of residence, whether to have surgery, perception type of health status, and whether or not to receive radiotherapy (p<0,05). Depression was affected by the type of place of residence, perception type of health status, and whether or not to receive radiotherapy (p<0,05). It was found that sexual quality of life was affected by place, breast cancer in the family, and perception type of health status. However, the quality of sexual life of the patients was good (p<0,05). Conclusions: There was a statistically significant negative correlation between the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale's mean total score of the Sexual Life Quality Scale (p<0,05). As anxiety and depression increased, the quality of sexual life decreased. Keywords: Anxiety, breast cancer, depression, quality of sexual life.