Correlation between depression and intimacy in lung cancer patients and their family caregivers

Cancer impacts both patients and their family caregivers. This study aimed to explore the interdependence between depression and intimacy in lung cancer patients and their family caregivers, providing the basis for developing a patient-caregiver centered dyadic intervention.

This cross-sectional study recruited 182 dyads of lung cancer patients and their family caregivers using a convenient sampling. The depression subscale of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the Mutuality Scale (MS) were used to measure participants' depression and intimacy respectively; and the correlation between depression and intimacy in patients and caregivers was analyzed by establishing the actor-partner interdependence model.

Thirty four percent of the patients and 19.2% of the caregivers were at risk of depression, with an intimacy score of 2.67 ± 0.74 points and 2.6 ± 0.86 points, respectively; Pearson correlation analysis showed that there was a positive correlation between the depression score (r = 0.226, P < 0.01) and intimacy score (r = 0.344, P < 0.01) in patients and caregivers; and the results of actor-partner interdependence model showed that caregivers' depression had an actor effect on their own intimacy (b = -0.054, P = 0.004) as well as a partner effect on patients' intimacy (b = -0.041, P = 0.011). However, patients' depression has no influence on the intimacy of patients or caregivers.

There is an interdependent relationship between depression and intimacy in lung cancer patients and family caregivers. Therefore, dyadic interventions can help them to cope with cancer together.