Social support, locus of control, and depressive symptoms in hemodialysis patients

This study aimed to reveal how social support and psychological well-being association might differ with locus of control orientation for chronically ill patients receiving a restrictive and unpleasant medical treatment (i.e., hemodialysis). Data were collected from 104 hemodialysis patients. After controlling for the variance accounted for by gender and duration of dialysis, for patients with internal locus of control, lack of "perceived social support" was found to be associated with depressive symptoms. On the other hand, for patients with external locus of control, the same analysis revealed that lack of "satisfaction from the received social support" was associated with depressive symptoms. Thus, for hemodialysis patients the variables associated with depressive symptoms varied with their locus of control orientations. Furthermore, the present study underlined the importance of considering different aspects of social support while studying with chronically ill patients.