Spirituality and Its Impact on Cancer Patients’ Health-Related Quality of Life (original) (raw)

Evaluation of the spiritual health of cancer patients and their nurses in Iran

Journal of Nursing and Midwifery Sciences, 2016

Background and Purpose: Cancer is associated with significant changes in the lifestyle of patients. Spiritual well-being has been shown to be an inherent element of health, quality of life, increased survival rate, and enhanced adaptability of cancer patients with the disease. This study aimed to evaluate the spiritual health of cancer patients and their nurses. Methods: This descriptive, correlational, cross-sectional study was conducted on 60 hospitalized cancer patients and 60 nurses in the hospitals affiliated to Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Iran during March-October 2014. Participants were selected via accident sampling, and data were collected using the Spiritual Well-being Scale (SWBS). Data analysis was performed in SPSS version 16 using descriptive statistics, Chi-square and T-test. Results: In cancer patients, mean scores of religious, existential and spiritual well-being were 52±2.32, 46±1.23 and 99±3.73, respectively. In the studied nurses, these scores were 29±4.43, 40±1.17 and 70±4.02, respectively. A significant difference was observed between the scores of spiritual well-being between cancer patients and nurses (P=0.001). Conclusion: According to the results of this study, spiritual well-being largely contributes to the mental health of cancer patients. Therefore, higher spiritual well-being of nurses could enhance the spiritual health of cancer patients as well.

Perspectives of cancer patients regarding spirituality and its role in cancer cure

International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health, 2016

Spirituality is recognized as a key determinant of health, and it has been adopted by the World Health Organization as part of its seven principles of health promotion. One of seven principles of health promotion adopted by WHO is "holism" which aims to foster physical, mental, social and spiritual health. The first recognition of spirituality within the World Health Organisation came at its 1983 Assembly when an appeal was made for a wider appreciation of the role of the spiritual in the construction of health. Spirituality is multidimensional phenomenon encompassing all aspects of being human and is a means of experiencing life. It has also been defined as an integral dimension of health and well-being of every individual. 1 Several prominent organizations have recognized well the importance of spiritual care. According to The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, spiritual services are an integral part of health care and daily life. 2 The American College of Physicians convened an end-of life consensus panel that concluded that physicians ABSTRACT Background: Spirituality is recognized as a key determinant of health. A strong correlation between health and spiritual healing is widely existent. Present study aims at investigating spiritual aspects of cancer patients and their opinions regarding spirituality and health and also to explore their views regarding spirituality as complementary and alternative (CAM) medicine for cure of cancer. Methods: Hospital based cross sectional study conducted 1117 among cancer patients attending a tertiary health facility. Chi square test and other elementary statistical methods were applied for data analysis. Results: Among 1117 cancer patients surveyed including 44.9% males and 55.1% females, 37.9% were of the opinion that spirituality and health are interrelated. Spiritual health was assigned Rank 1 by 21.3% respondents. There were 24.6% respondents having no spiritual distress. About 73% respondents agreed with existence of spirituality as a health component. The most common reported characteristic of spiritually healthy individuals was being in peace and calm (69.4%). Majority of respondents (97.2%) had reported faith in God. Increased faith in god after suffering from the disease was reported by 68.8% respondents. Spirituality had perceived role in recovering from disease and 61.6% respondents reported change in their outlook after suffering from this disease. Conclusions: Findings of the present study support the relationship between spirituality and health. Need is felt for introducing spiritual health care in medical practice with holistic approach effectively addressing spiritual issues in cancer management.

Relationship between Spiritual Health and Quality of Life in Patients with Cancer

Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention, 2015

As the essence of health in humans, spiritual health is a fundamental concept for discussing chronic diseases such as cancer and a major approach for improving quality of life in patients is through creating meaningfulness and purpose. The present descriptive analytical study was conducted to assess the relationship between spiritual health and quality of life in 210 patients with cancer admitted to the Cancer Institute of Iran, selected through convenience sampling in 2014. Data were collected using Spiritual Health Questionnaire and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC-QLQ). Patients' performance was assessed through the Karnofsky Performance Status Indicator and their cognitive status through the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Data were analyzed in SPSS-16 using descriptive statistics and stepwise linear regression. The results obtained reported the mean and standard deviation of the patients' spiritual...

The Correlation Between Spiritual Level and Life Quality of Breast Cancer Patients

Jurnal Aisyah : Jurnal Ilmu Kesehatan

A good quality of life will provide good physical and spiritual health, and will be able to run a life in the community according to their respective roles. The research objective is to determine the correlation between spirituality level with the life quality of breast cancer sufferer. The research type used quantitative research method with cross sectional approach. The measurements used the EORTC QLQ-30 + EORTC BR-23 questionnaire. The research results showed that the spirituality level of sufferer in dealing with breast cancer on average had a high spirituality level of 38 people (84%). There is no correlation between spirituality level with the life quality of breast cancer sufferer this was demonstrated by the results of analysis of Spearman's Test average p value of > 0.05.

Spiritual Wellbeing of Cancer Patients: What Health-Related Factors Matter?

Journal of Religion and Health, 2020

This study aimed to determine the predictors of spiritual wellbeing of non-terminal stage cancer patients hospitalized in oncology units in Lithuania. An exploratory cross-sectional study design was employed. During structured face-to-face interviews, 226 cancer patients hospitalized in oncology units responded about their spiritual wellbeing, perception of happiness, satisfaction with life, pain intensity, levels of education and physical functioning, and length of inpatient stay. A set of standardized tools were used: spiritual wellbeing scale SHALOM, brief multidimensional life satisfaction scale, Oxford Happiness Questionnaire, Barthel Index questionnaire, and verbal pain intensity scale. Additionally, social-and health-related factors were included in data analyses. Structural equation modeling was adapted for a comprehensive assessment of the mediating effect of spiritual wellbeing on the relationship between different health-and value-related factors. The overall fit of the structural model was generally good: 2 (29) = 66.94 (χ 2 /df = 2.31), CFI = 0.94, RMSEA = 0.08, and SRMR = 0.06. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM SPSS Statistics) version 24.0 and Mplus version 8.2. Level of happiness, life satisfaction, and spiritual wellbeing scored in the moderate upper range. The communal domain of spiritual wellbeing rated with the highest mean score and transcendental domain with the lowest score. Education (b = 0.208, p = 0.004), physical functioning (b = 0.171, p = 0.025), and hospital duration (b = − 0.240, p = 0.001) were significant predictors of spiritual wellbeing. Happiness and life satisfaction were negatively influenced by pain intensity, which ranged from mild to moderate. Levels of education, physical functioning, and length of hospital stay predict spiritual wellbeing of non-terminally ill cancer patients. Happiness, as well as life satisfaction, was negatively predicted by pain intensity but had no direct influence on spiritual wellbeing of cancer patients. Spiritual wellbeing positively influences emotional wellbeing (happiness and life satisfaction), and its influence is stronger than the negative influence of physical pain has on emotional wellbeing.

THE ROLE OF SPIRITUALITY IN CARE FOR ONCOLOGY PATIENTS: A REVIEW UNTIL 2024 (Atena Editora)

THE ROLE OF SPIRITUALITY IN CARE FOR ONCOLOGY PATIENTS: A REVIEW UNTIL 2024 (Atena Editora), 2024

Spirituality, although it is commonly associated with religion, is not restricted to it and must be understood as a universal human dimension, involving subjective values and allowing the individual their own search for meaning and existential reflection. The humanization of medicine, defended by the WHO and recommended by the SUS, must not be an exception in oncology services, where individual aspects, such as spirituality, must be respected and encouraged, whether by adding alternative/complementary practices to therapy, providing comfort and alleviating the emotional commitment, or providing support for bereaved family members. The objective of this study is to identify how spirituality can benefit cancer patient care. The work consists of a bibliographical review. Using the advanced search tool, a search was carried out using the keywords “Spirituality”, “Oncology” and “Cancer” in the PubMed, Cochrane Library and Scielo databases. Filters were used only for completeness and freeness of available studies, resulting in 49 articles. After reading the title, abstract and descriptors, 21 studies were excluded, leaving 28 studies for complete reading and analysis. All reviews analyzed highlight benefits arising from spirituality in the care of cancer patients, highlighting points such as improved quality of life, spiritual, emotional and subjective well-being; positive influence on coping with pain; positive changes in post-traumatic growth; increased sense of dignity, will to live and sense of purpose. However, one of the reviews highlights that religious beliefs can have negative influences on the patient. The report and series of cases corroborate the reviews, which verified the importance of recognizing the spiritual dimension in pain control, including in cases refractory to drug treatment, and giving new meaning to the process of death and symbolic pain, with an increase in quality of life. All observational and exploratory studies analyzed found benefits associated with spirituality in the management of cancer patients, although 03 of them found limitations and negative aspects associated with religious beliefs and customs. Spirituality is an important tool for cancer patients and their caregivers/family members, being able to provide them with positive feelings, such as hope and comfort, and alleviating negative aspects, such as grief, expectation and the symbolic pain of the inevitable outcome in some cases. cases, and must therefore be respected and encouraged whenever possible by multidisciplinary teams in oncology services.

Spirituality relationship to the quality of life of children with cancer in Dr. Sardjito general hospital

International Journal Of Community Medicine And Public Health

Background: In Indonesia, the prevalence of cancer up to 1.4 per 1000 population. Acute lymphocyte leukemia is one of type of cancers. Sspirituality is an element that increasing and is recognized by many patients with the disease at an advanced stage. Assessment of spirituality in children acute lymphocyte leukemia had ever done by the researcher before shows that spirituality contributes a positive influence to the coping and the achievement of adaptation. Aim of this research was to know how the relationship between spirituality with quality of life in children with cancer.Methods: This study used a mixed design (mixed method), with sequential explanatory strategy. Quantitative approach to the cross-sectional design and in- depth interviews in qualitative data collection. Research has received permission from the The Medical and Health Research Ethics Committee (MHREC).Results: There is a relationship between spirituality and the quality of life of children with cancer with a tot...

The Spiritual Beliefs and Quality of Life of Cancer Patients : A Correlational Inquiry

2018

The study examined the nature and extent of association between spiritual beliefs and quality of life of the diagnosed cancer patients and normal healthy participants. The study employed a correlational research design to collect and analyze data. The purposive sampling method was applied to choose the participants in the study. Thirty five diagnosed male and 25 female cancer patients and 40 normal healthy male and 20 female participants constituted the samples for the study. The findings of the study showed that the mean score of spiritual beliefs of the male cancer patients was significantly higher as compared to their female counterparts. Likewise, the mean scores of spiritual beliefs and quality of life of the male normal healthy participants was significantly higher as compared to their female counterparts. The mean score of spiritual beliefs of clinical participants was significantly higher as compared to the normal healthy participants whereas the mean score of quality of life of the normal healthy participants was higher as compared to the clinical participants. There were significant positive correlations among the scores of spiritual beliefs and quality of life of the male and female participants with diagnosed cancer and healthy participants. Thus, health status, spiritual beliefs and gender of the participants were observed to play crucial role in shaping the quality of life of the participants. In essence, the findings substantiated the vital role of spiritual beliefs in determining the quality of life of the participants suffering from chronic disease like cancer. The findings have significant implications to unearth the relationship between spiritual beliefs and quality of life of the patients suffering from chronic disease. These findings have significant implications for health professionals, psychologists and laymen. The future directions for future research have been stated at the end.

Assessment of Spiritual Care Needs and Quality of Life of Cancer Patients in a Tertiary Hospital in Southwest Nigeria

Research Square (Research Square), 2023

In Africa, cancer is considered a death sentence. Its impact can be debilitating for both the patient and those who care for them. The objective of the study was to assess the Spiritual care needs and Quality of life of Cancer patients in a tertiary hospital in Nigeria. Methods This study is a cross-sectional design and systematically recruited 302 cancer patients who visited the cancer registry and outpatient departments. A standardized and validated Spiritual needs questionnaire (SpNQ) and WHO Quality of Life (WHOQL)were used to collect data. Data was analyzed with SPSS version 23 with level of signi cance set at p < 0.05. Results The preponderance cancer among respondents was breast cancer (48.4%) followed by prostate cancer (13.6%). Majority of the respondents admitted to have "strong" spiritual needs. Categorization of the spiritual need score was below average in 20% of the respondent which indicated those with low spiritual need and majority (79.8%) of the patients had high spiritual needs. Majority of the respondents had poor quality of life in all the four domains. The spiritual care needs of respondents were signi cantly associated with the quality of life of the respondents particularly in the psychological domain (p = 0.040) and social domain (p = 0.005). Conclusion This study revealed high spiritual needs among cancer patients and poor quality of life of cancer patients. Providing for spiritual needs could improve cancer patients' quality of life. Spiritual support should be improved in our setting, as a strategy to enhance cancer patient`s quality of life.

Spirituality and well-being in cancer patients: a review

Psycho-Oncology, 2009

Objective: Cancer places many demands on the patient and threatens the person's sense of meaning to life. It has been shown that cancer patients use their spirituality to cope with these experiences. The present literature review summarizes the research findings on the relationship between spirituality and emotional well-being. Special attention is given to the strength of the research findings.