چکیده:
Introduction: Cancers are one of the most common causes of death in the world today. Having a
life-threatening illness such as cancer is expected to cause significant psychological disturbances.
Therefore, in order to properly manage and treat patients, it is necessary to be aware of the
psychiatric complications in cancer patients. Given that the relationship between awareness of
cancer and its psychological effects has not been studied in Iran, in this study we aimed to
investigate the relationship between the presence of psychiatric illness and the knowledge of the
disease in cancer patients.
Materials and Methods: This study was an descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study. 150
patients with different types of cancer were studied in two groups of 75 people (self-aware cancer
group and non-cancer self-awareness group). The data collection tool was a questionnaire that
consisted of three parts: Part 1: Demographic information of patients including: age, gender, level
of education, marital status and type of cancer; Part II: SCL90 Personality Questionnaire and Part
3: Petersburg Sleep Disorder Questionnaire (PSQI). After collection, the data were entered into
SPSS software version 22 and data analysis was performed using Chi-Square - Fisher Exact - TTest
and Anova tests. In all cases, P-Value <0.05 was considered as a significant level.
Result: The mean age of the patients was 51.42 ± 15.32 years. Out of 150 patients, 70 (46.7%)
were male and 80 (53.3%) were female. There was a statistically significant difference between
the mean score of paranoid thoughts (P-Value = 0.020) and sleep quality score (P-Value = 0.028)
in the two groups. No statistically significant difference was found between the frequency
distribution of any of the personality dimensions and sleep quality between the two groups. There
was a statistically significant difference between the frequency distribution of physical disorders
and anxiety in women and personality disorders in both genders. Also, a statistically significant
difference was found between the frequency distribution of physical disorders in the ages of 71-
55 years (P-Value = 0.036) and aggression disorders in the ages of 54-17 years (P-Value = 0.000).
Also, a statistically significant difference was found between the frequency distribution of all
personality dimensions according to the type of cancer.
Conclusion: According to the results of the study, it can be concluded that awareness of cancer
increases the incidence of mental disorders (decreased sleep quality and increased paranoid
thoughts) in cancer patients