| dc.description.abstract | Background: Breast cancer is one of the most prevalent types of cancer worldwide and is associated with anxiety in over 40% of patients due to social factors, such as education level, occupation, and socioeconomic status. Therefore, this study aims to determine the relationship between demographic characteristics and anxiety syndrome in patients with advanced-stage breast cancer.
Methods: This correlational observational study used a cross-sectional approach. The analysis included 63 female subjects who were diagnosed with stage III-IV breast cancer and had passed chemotherapy at least three times. Patients with pre-existing psychiatric diagnoses were excluded from this study. The anxiety syndrome severity was measured using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) questionnaire.
Results: The mean age of the patients in this study was 48.68±7.39 years, 87.3% were married, 58.7% were employed, and 41.3% had a low income level. The highest educational level achieved was high school, with a proportion of 30.2% and the most common severity level of anxiety syndrome based on the GAD-7 was minimal anxiety at 42.9%. Spearman correlation tests indicated that age was not associated with anxiety syndrome (r = -0.21, p = 0.115), but educational level (r = -0.284, p = 0.024) and income (r = -0.267, p = 0.034) correlated with anxiety syndrome. According to the Eta test, employment status (F-value = 2.46, F-critical = 4) and marital status (F-value = 0.5, F-critical = 4) were not related to the severity of anxiety syndrome.
Conclusion: This study showed that higher education and income levels were associated with lower severity of anxiety syndrome. However, age, marital status, and employment status were not related to the severity of anxiety syndrome. | en_US |
