Effects of illness representation, perceived quality of information provided by the health-care professional, and perceived social support on depressive symptoms of the caregivers of children with leukemia.

The present study examined the effects of illness representation, perceived quality of information provided by the health-care professional, and perceived social support on the depressive symptoms of the caregivers of children with leukemia. The sample was composed of 71 caregivers of children with leukemia living in Turkey. The obtained data were analyzed by path analysis. The results show that caregivers of children with leukemia experience higher levels of depressive symptoms when they have negative illness representation and lower levels of depressive symptoms when they perceive higher levels of social support. Moreover, they perceive higher social support when they perceive high quality of information provided by health-care professionals. It can be suggested that intervention programs which aim to increase caregivers' social support and change their illness representation in a positive way would be helpful for the caregivers showing depressive symptoms.