Abstract:
The purposes of this descriptive correlation study were to examine cognitive illness representation and depression and test its relationships among male cancer patients receiving care services from Chon Buri Cancer Center. One- hundred male cancer patients participated in this study. Instruments for data collection were the illness perception scale developed by Weinman et al. (1996) and Beck Depression scale (Beck, 1967). Descriptive statistics, Pearsons Product-Moment correlation were employed to analyze the data. Results from this study revealed that the three highest numbers of cancer causes as perceived by this sample were having poor treatment in the past ( x = 3.96, SD = .47), diet ( x = 3.76, SD = .62), and genetics ( x = 3.76, SD = .61). The three highest percentage of
symptoms as rated by the sample were insomnia (97%), weight loss (96%) and pain (92%).
The average scores of 4 dimensions of cognitive illness representation were: identity ( x = 7.98, SD = .32), time-line ( x = 3.80, SD = .41), consequence ( x = 3.71, SD = .33) and cure/ controllability ( x = 3.18, SD = .23). The average depression scores was 39.64 (SD = 5.89). For correlation analysis, time-line was found to be positively correlated with depression
(r = .22, p<.05). These findings could be helpful in the enhancement of knowledge and understanding
among health care providers, nurses in particular, regarding cognitive illness representation and depression in male cancer patients. Results from this study would also be served as baseline data for the development of nursing intervention to promote appropriate emotional response and regulation to health threats.