The Relationship Between Social Media Use, Intolerance of Uncertainty, and Resilience with Anxiety and Depression Symptoms in Cancer Patients.

Abstract

Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic may be considered as a shared source of uncertainty. Prolonged engagement with social media regarding this uncertainty could present as a risk factor for anxiety. We sought to investigate the relationship between intolerance of uncertainty, dimensions of resilience, uncertainty source (pandemic)-related social media use, and the risk of anxiety and depression in patients with cancer.

Method: Patients with solid organ cancer (n=113) completed the sociodemographic data form, the Intolerance to Uncertainty Scale-12 (IUS-12), the Resilience Scale for Adults (RSA) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) between May and August 2020.

Results: Depression scores were high at 17.7% of the patients while anxiety scores were high at 49.6%. RSA and its dimensions significantly differ between the Anxiety and Depression groups determined by the HADS. Time spent on social media about the COVID-19 pandemic (SMT) was associated with higher HADS-Anxiety scores (r=0.26, p<0.01), whereas higher resilience was associated with lower HADS-Anxiety (r=-0.42, p<0.01) and HADS-Depression (r=-0.52, p<0.01) scores. In addition to high levels of intolerance of uncertainty, low levels of the social resources were found to be a risk factor for depression, and low levels of self- and future-perception dimensions were found to be a risk factor for anxiety, regardless of the patients' social media use.

Conclusion: As the factors that fuel uncertainty will always have an affect on cancer patients and cancer care, promoting the patients' resilience resources should be one of the main priorities for cancer patients.