ABSTRACT
Objective To evaluate the anxiety and depression problems in children parents with leukemia, as well as the problems' influence to the psychosocial characteristics of leukemia children.Methods Twenty long-term survivors of childhood leukemia (group A), thirty children newly diagnosed as leukemia (group B) and fifty age-matched healthy controls (group C) completed the questionnaires allowing assessment of symptoms associated with anxiety, depression and self-concept. At the same time, the anxiety and depression in the parents of children with leukemia were also measured using SAS and SDS. Results The anxiety and depression scores of the parents in study group (48.56±9.23, 51.86±9.53) were much higher than that in normal population (37.23±12.59, 41.88±10.57) (P = 0.000, 0.000, respectively), the positive rate of anxiety and depression symptoms among group B was significantly higher than that among group A (60.0 % vs 25.0 %, 46.7 % vs 20.0 %; P <0.05, respectively). There was a significant positive relation between the depression and anxiety scores in the parents of children with leukemia(r =0.947, P =0.0000). Group A scored significantly higher on subscales of somatization/panic (6.11 ±4.36), generalized anxiety (5.72±4.56),social phobia (7.67±4.19) and the total scale (25.8±13.98) than group C (the score was 3.68±3.39, 2.54±2.99,4.24±2.88 and 15.9±10.52, respectively) (P<0.05, respectively), group B scored significantly higher on subscales of social phobia (6.03 ±2.16) than group C (4.24±2.88) (P =0.016). There was a significantly positive relation between the depression score in children with leukemia and the anxiety (r = 0.309, P = 0.029) & depression(r = 0.342, P = 0.015) scores in their parents. Group A scored significantly higher on the total score of self-concept(60.8±6.25) as well as the subscales of happiness(7.95±1.32) than group G (64.48±7.89 vs 8.64±1.19) (P =0.039, 0.026, respectively); and group B scored significantly higher on subscales of behavior (12.47±1.25), intelligence(10.80±2.12), physical appearance and attributes (8.40±2.66), anxiety (9.93±1.29) and the total scale (59.83±5.87) than group C (14.00±2.17, 12.60±2.96, 9.64±2.30, 11.38+2.18, 64.48±7.89) (P <0.05, respectively). There was a significantly positive relation between the score of gregarization subscale in leukemic children and the anxiety score in their parents (r = 0.337, P = 0.017). Conclusion The findings of our studies have suggested that the parents of children with leukemia are at risk for psychological difficulties, and which have a great influence on the psychological health of their children.