Effect of Perceived Social Support on the Levels of Anxiety and Depression of Hemodialysis Patients

Abstract

Purpose:of this study was to explore the effect of social support on the levels of anxiety and depression of hemodialysis patients.Material and Methods:258 patients undergoing hemodialysis were enrolled. A questionnaire developed for the purpose of the study was used to collect data through the interview process. Apart from socio-demographic, clinical and other characteristics, the questionnaire also included the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) to assess social support from significant others, family and friends, and the questionnaire Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADs) to assess the levels of anxiety and depression of patients.Results:53,9% of the participants were male while 34,1% of the participants were >70 years old. 32,9% and 30,2% of the participants felt high levels of anxiety and depression, respectively. Analysis of data showed a statistically significant association between anxiety/depression and social support from significant others, family and friends (p=<0,001 for all associations). In particular, patients with high levels of anxiety and depression felt less support from their significant others, family and friends. The multinomial logistic regression, showed a statistically significant effect of social support from friends in anxiety levels (p=0,004). An one point increase of the support from friends seems to reduce by 57% the probability of having high levels of anxiety. In addition, statistically significant effect of social support from significant others, family and friends was observed on the levels of depression (p=<0,001, p=0,001 & p=0,003, respectively). Specifically, an one point increase of the support from significant others, family and friends it was found to reduce by 77%, 71% and 56% respectively the probability of experiencing high levels of depression.Conclusions:Phyco-social evaluation is essential when providing holistic care to hemodialysis patients.

The effect of sociodemographic factors on anxiety, depression, and perceived social support in patients with internal medicine and surgical problems

“…Similarly, perceived social support in patients with chronic illness was a significant predictor of both depression and anxiety. 15,16 Chivukula, Swain, Rana and Hariharan 29 reported a negative impact of perceived social support on both anxiety and depression in cardiac patients. In another study, a negative relationship was found between depression and anxiety with perceived social support in patients with multiple sclerosis.…”

“…• The Patients Information Form includes 24 questions about patients' sociodemographic characteristics, health-related issues, and disease characteristics, besides hospitaliZation-related matters. 13,[15][16][17] • HADS was developed in 1983 by Zigmond and Snaith. 18 It is a brief questionnaire that was originally designed to detect emotional disturbances in nonpsychiatric patients treated in hospital clinics.…”

“…13,14 Perceived social support from family, friends, and significant others is a significant predictive factor for depression and anxiety among patients with chronic illness. 15,16 Low levels of social support are associated with poor perceived health status, depression symptoms, and low perceived illness control. 17 2 | METHODS…”

Social support and quality of life in Greek women with breast cancer during chemotherapy and two years later

“…The original version was constructed by Zimet et al (1988) and has been translated into other languages (Aloba, Opakunle, & Ogunrinu, 2019). The Greek version of MSPSS has good internal validity (Cronbach's α = .80) (Theofilou, Zyga, Tzitzikos, Malindretos, & Kotrotsiou, 2013) and has been used in elderly and haemodialysis patients (Lilympaki et al, 2016).…”

Exploring demands of hemodialysis patients in Taiwan: A two-step cluster analysis

“…Depression may induce immune deficiency, loss of appetite, and malnutrition, rendering patients unable to cope with their prescribed therapy; depression can also provoke suicide, thus indirectly raising the mortality rate [10]. Gender, age, and comorbidity have been recognized as critical factors leading to depression [11]; lack of social support and a lengthy treatment regimen may also result in depression [12,13].…”