Anxiety and depression in children with a diagnosis of cancer

Abstract

Cancer is one of the main causes of death in children. This illness constitutes a crisis situation that is very stressful, causing the child to experience emotional states that lead to psychological distress such as anxiety and depression. The goal of this work was to assess anxious and depressive symp-toms in children between 6 and 12 years old who suffer from cancer, controlling for sex, age and time elapsed since the child had been diagnosed. We used Kovac´s child depression inventory (CDI) and Spielberger´s trait-anxiety inventory for children (STAIC). The sample included 65 children (36 males and 29 females). Differences and associations of the variables considering sex, age, and time elapsed since the diagnosis were analyzed. The results showed no significant differences in trait anxi-ety and depression. But there were significant differences in trait-anxiety as a function of time elapsed since the diagnosis.