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Bereaved females are more likely to suffer from mood problems even if they do not meet the criteria for prolonged grief
Author(s) -
Chiu YuWen,
Yin ShaoMin,
Hsieh HuiYa,
Wu WeiChun,
Chuang HungYi,
Huang ChiaTsuan
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
psycho‐oncology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.41
H-Index - 137
eISSN - 1099-1611
pISSN - 1057-9249
DOI - 10.1002/pon.1811
Subject(s) - anxiety , grief , mood , beck depression inventory , distress , depression (economics) , beck anxiety inventory , clinical psychology , psychology , complicated grief , medicine , psychiatry , economics , macroeconomics
Purpose : The goal of this study was to describe the gender difference of grief experience and mood distress among caregivers who cared for terminal cancer patients residing in a hospice ward. Methods : This study recruited 432 caregivers who cared for terminal cancer patients in the hospice ward. Caregivers received telephone interviews 6 months after the patients had died. The Chinese versions of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and Inventory of Complicated Grief (ICG) developed in 1995 by Prigerson et al . were employed to assess the mood distress and grief status. Results : Total scores of BDI, BAI, and ICG were significantly higher in females. Six out of twenty‐one items of BDI, lack of satisfaction, crying spells, sleep disturbance, fatigability, somatic preoccupation, and loss of libido, showed significantly higher scores in females. According to BAI, inability to relax, dizziness, fear of dying, fright, flushed face, and hot/cold sweats were significantly higher in females. After adjustment for potential confounders, the results show that female gender is associated with higher BDI (regression coefficient 3.24, 95% CI: 1.48–4.99), BAI (3.8; 1.11–6.50), and ICG (4.25, 1.09–7.40). Dichotomizing the BDI, BAI, and ICG into severe and nonsevere cases, the results showed that gender only contributes to severe anxiety status (BAI≧36), but not to severe depression (BDI≧29) or to prolonged grief (ICG≧25). Conclusions : Bereaved females had higher scores for depression and anxiety than males. Female gender is associated with severe anxiety; however, it is not associated with severe depression or prolonged grief. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.