Abstract
Arsenic induced cancer is a major public health issue in Indo-Gangetic plains of Bihar, India where 22 out of 38 districts report arsenic contamination of groundwater. Its psychological aspect is under studied in contrast to the physiological and social. This baseline correlational survey research explores the relationship and role of proactive coping on depression, anxiety and stress among this population. Depression, anxiety and stress were assessed in 77 consenting arsenic induced cancer patients with depression, anxiety and stress scales. Proactive Coping was assessed with proactive coping inventory. Results demonstrated negative association and influence of proactive coping on stress, anxiety and depression. Avoidance coping associated positively with depression and reflective coping predicted for depression and anxiety. The findings advocate for more research attention on psychological aspects of arsenic induced cancer. Timely psychological interventions to build proactive coping are warranted to alleviate depression, anxiety and stress among this population.
Keywords
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
