Analysing depression and self-compassion levels of patients with cancer depending on some of their sociodemographic and disease-related attribute

The disease reality begins with the birth of man, and this struggle continues until his death. Cancer, one of the most common diseases today; It was first named by Hippocrates as 460-377 "carcinoma" or "carcinoma" before Christ. Until recently, cancer was considered only as a physical disease and treatment was applied in that direction. However, today, one of the important factors in the fight against cancer is considered as the mental health dimension. The first symptoms that occur in an individual who encounters cancer in any period of his life are mental breakdown, hopelessness and depressive symptoms. The prevalence of depression after the individual is diagnosed with cancer is expressed with a rate of 40% rather high. Therefore besides the cancer treatment applied to the individual, the importance of managing the negative mental state is remarkable. In recent studies, the concept of self-compassion to combat depression is remarkable. It is stated that the level of self-compassion, which is one of the factors that the mental well-being is related, has a very high effect on the well-being. It is a concept that strengthens the positive dimensions of mental health such as self-compassion, happiness, peace and optimism and improves the mental well-being of the individual. Being able to approach depressive symptoms that impair mental health with the concept of self-compassion makes the individual feel happier and supports more sensitive behavior towards himself. Studies have shown that individuals with depressive symptoms have not experienced self-compassion before and self-compassion disappears when they experience mental disorders. Individuals with high self-compassion have high levels of happiness and optimism. In addition, these people have a positive mental state. However, self-compassion is of great importance for preventive mental health. It is seen that self-compassion is a predictor of mental health and individuals with high compassion show low anxiety, depression and high social connectedness. Thus, negative emotions are transformed into more positive emotions that help the individual to adopt actions that will change himself and his environment in effective and appropriate ways. The aim of this study is to investigate the levels of depression and self-compassion in patients with cancer according to some sociodemographic and disease-related descriptive characteristics, and to determine the relationship between depression and self-compassion. The sample of the study consisted of 100 patients between the ages of 22-65 who applied to the treatment in a private foundation university hospital in Istanbul between 29 February and 05 May 2019 with the diagnosis of cancer in the hospital's oncology, chemotherapy, bone marrow transplantation service. The data of the study were collected with "Introductory Information Form for Cancer Patients", "Self-compassion Scale Form" and "Beck Depression Scale Form". Data; In SPSS 20.0 program, descriptive statistical analyzes (frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, minimum and maximum value) were evaluated using 95% confidence interval (p<0.05) and significance level using Mann Whitney U test, Kruskal Wallis Variance Analysis. As a result of this study, the patients participating in the research; self-compassion levels of married people according to marital status were statistically significantly higher than singles (p<0.05), the self-sensitivity levels of those who are in the first stage according to the stage of the disease, those who think that their lives have changed according to the pre-diagnosis, those who think that they will overcome this process in relation to the future, and those who feel happy and peaceful before and after the diagnosis are statistically significantly higher than other groups (p <0,05), Those who think that there is a family history of cancer history, those who spend 91 days or more according to the time of diagnosis have a statistically significant high depression level (p <0.05), and those who think there is a difference in their pre-diagnostic life are worried according to their future thoughts. According to the person who meets self-care needs, those who are met by the family, those who are unhappy and anxious before the cancer and the current situation, those who are in the 4th stage according to the disease stage are statistically significantly higher (p <0.05). It was determined that there was a statistically significant, negative and high level relationship between beck depression scale mean and self-sensitivity scale mean. In this context, the nurses working with cancer patients are informed about increasing the self-sensitivity levels of patients, emphasizing the importance of this subject in undergraduate education in order to reduce depression levels by supporting the patients' self-sensitivity levels, and routine self-sensitivity levels in order to raise awareness for increasing the self-sensitivity of cancer patients. the same study including self-sensitivity and depression levels, families, single people, those with stage 4 cancer, since the self-sensitivity levels of those who have negative feelings about cancer process are low, it may be recommended to pay special attention to these groups, which are especially at risk in practice.