Relationship of the Social Environment and Patients' Physical Status to Depression in Lung Cancer Patients and Their Spouses

Abstract

Psychosocial and physical data on 20 lung cancer patients and 18 spouses were gathered for six months after the patients' diagnosis to determine the relationship of the social environment and the patients' physical status to depressive symptoms in patients and spouses. It was found that physical status was related to depressive symptoms in patients but not in their spouses. The spouses' depressive symptoms were independent of the patients' physical status but were related to a measure of involvement in the social environment. These findings highlight the importance of screening spouses of cancer patients for psychosocial impairment and the fact that such impairment cannot be predicted from the patients' physical status.