Depressions Level among Adolescents Undergoing Chemotherapy Treatment at Pediatric Teaching Hospitals in Baghdad City

Abstract

Objectives: A descriptive correlational study, using an evaluation approach, is conducted to evaluate the
level of depression for adolescents undergoing chemotherapy at pediatric hospitals in Baghdad City from
December 15th 2020 to June 17th 2021.
Methodology: A self-report questionnaire is developed for the purpose of the study. Content validity and
internal consistency reliability are determined through a pilot study. A purposive “non- probability” sample,
of (45) adolescents, is selected for the present study. All adolescents have signed a consent form for their
agreement to participate in the study with no obligation as part of the ethical considerations.
Results: Results of the study indicate that adolescents, who are middle age and males, develop depressive
symptoms greater than others after being treated with chemotherapy. Adolescents’ depression has highly
significant relationship with their socio-demographic characteristics of relapse, complications, mothers’
occupation, gender, education, monthly income, duration of treatment, age, fathers’ occupation, fathers’
education, mothers’ education and age at diagnosis.
Conclusion: The study concludes that most of the adolescents have experienced moderate level of depression
as a result of their being exposed to the chemotherapy treatment and the study confirms that the issues of
looking forward, sleeping, feeling, walking, energy, pain, appetite have major influence on the prognosis of
the health problem of depression.
Recommendation: The study recommends that counseling services are important issue to deal with in
providing treatment to these adolescents especially those who are males, middle age, and developing
complications and relapse. Well-designed and constructed education program can be presented to these
adolescents for the purposes of increasing their awareness toward the disease and making them able to
prevent complications and relapse associated depression.