Life events, social support and depression in haemodialysis patients

This study examined the effects of life events and social support on depres sion in 200 dialysis patients. The instruments used included the Beck Depre ssion Inventory, a modified version of Sarason's Life Experiences Survey an d a Social Support Inventory (SSI) constructed by the authors. The SSI cons isted of five quantitative measures and three measures of perceived social support. These measures were found to be internally consistent and stable o ver time. Results showed that clinically depressed dialysis patients report ed fewer positive life events and appraised life events more negatively tha n non-depressed patients. The total number of life events and the number of negative life events were not found to differentiate between depressed and non-depressed patients. With regard to social support variables, results s howed that depressed patients reported less frequent actual contact and tel ephone contact with others and perceived a smaller amount and less availabi lity of social support and less satisfaction with perceived social support along the functional dimensions of emotional, informational, appraisal and instrumental support and social companionship. The results were found to pr ovide support for a main effect model of social support and not for a buffe ring model. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.