Spirituality, Religiosity, and Psychological Well-Being in Terminal Patients (original) (raw)
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Spirituality, Religion, and Depression in the Terminally Ill
Psychosomatics, 2002
Objective: This study examined the impact of spirituality and religiosity on depressive symptom severity in a sample of terminally ill patients with cancer and AIDS. Methods: One hundred sixty-two patients were recruited from palliative-care facilities (hospitals and specialized nursing facilities), all of whom had a life expectancy Ͻ6 months. The primary variables used in this study were the FACIT Spiritual Well-Being Scale, a religiosity index similar to those used in previous research, the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), the Karnofsky Performance Rating Scale, the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale, and the Duke-UNC Functional Social Support Questionnaire. Results: A strong negative association was observed between the FACIT Spiritual Well-Being scale and the HDRS, but no such relationship was found for religiosity, because more religious individuals had somewhat higher scores on the HDRS. Similar patterns were observed for the FACIT subscales, finding a strong negative association between the meaning and peace subscale (which corresponds to the more existential aspects of spirituality) and HDRS scores, whereas a positive, albeit nonsignificant, association was observed for the faith subscale (which corresponds more closely to religiosity). Conclusions: These results suggest that the beneficial aspects of religion may be primarily those that relate to spiritual well-being rather than to religious practices per se. Implications for clinical interventions and palliative-care practice are discussed.
Predictors of spirituality at the end of life
Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien
OBJECTIVE To assess the relationship between spirituality and hopelessness, desire for hastened death, and clinical and disease-related characteristics among patients with advanced cancer, and to investigate predictors of spirituality. Spiritual well-being is thought to have a beneficial effect on patients' response to illness. DESIGN Patients were asked to complete 4 questionnaires: the Greek version of the Spiritual Involvement and Beliefs Scale, the Greek version of the Schedule of Attitudes toward Hastened Death, the Beck Hopelessness Scale, and a questionnaire on demographics. SETTING A palliative care unit in Athens, Greece. PARTICIPANTS A total of 91 patients with advanced cancer. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Associations between scores on the Spiritual Involvement and Beliefs scale and scores on the Schedule of Attitudes toward Hastened Death scale and the Beck Hopelessness scale, and demographic characteristics.
Spiritual and religious interventions for well-being of adults in the terminal phase of disease
Cochrane database of systematic reviews (Online)
As terminal disease progresses, health deteriorates and the end of life approaches, people may ask "Why this illness? Why me? Why now?" Such questions may invoke, rekindle or intensify spiritual or religious concerns. Although the processes by which these associations occur are poorly understood, there is some research evidence for associations that are mainly positive between spiritual and religious awareness and wellness, such as emotional health. This review aimed to describe spiritual and religious interventions for adults in the terminal phase of a disease and to evaluate their effectiveness on well-being. We searched 14 databases to November 2011, including the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and MEDLINE. We included randomised controlled trials (RCTS) if they involved adults in the terminal phase of a disease and if they evaluated outcomes for an intervention that had a spiritual or religious component. Primary outcomes were well-being, coping with th...
The Role of Religion for Hospice Patients and Relatively Healthy Older Adults
Research on Aging, 2006
As older adults approach the end of life, they frequently experience death anxiety and a decline in subjective well-being that are not always alleviated by increased religious participation. One possible explanation is the differential influences of intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity. The present study examined the effects of religious orientation and spiritual activities on subjective well-being and death attitudes among 103 relatively healthy older adults and 19 hospice patients (aged 61 and older). The results of path analyses showed that a sense of purpose in life rather than religiosity had a direct positive effect on subjective well-being and a direct negative effect on death fear after controlling for physical health and demographic characteristics. Intrinsic religiosity had an indirect positive effect on subjective well-being and a strong direct positive effect on approach acceptance of death. Extrinsic religiosity, however, was positively related to death anxiety and, for ...
Spirituality, quality of life, psychological adjustment in terminal cancer patients in hospice
European Journal of Cancer Care, 2015
The purpose of this study was to show the different components of spirituality in the last few weeks of life for advanced cancer patients admitted to hospice and to evaluate quality of life (QoL), pain, anxiety, depression and psychological adjustment to cancer. One hundred and fifteen patients were interviewed with a series of rating scales: the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-Being Scale, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Visual Analogue Scale for pain, the Brief Coping Orientation to Problem Experienced and the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy Scale-General Measure. Workers and single patients with higher education level showed a worse QoL. Moreover, anxiety and pain were negatively associated with QoL, while spirituality and 'Instrumental Support' coping style were positively associated with QoL. In the Italian sample, it was observed that when patients are close to death, faith is a more important component of spirituality than meaning/peace. This study confirms that QoL could be related to physical and psychological symptoms, and this reiterates the importance of faith in end-of-life care.
European Journal of Oncology Nursing, 2019
The study addresses the spiritual dimension of care of non-terminally ill cancer patients by measuring their spiritual needs in association with indicators of quality of life (i.e., happiness, satisfaction with life, pain intensity, functional capacity) and personal and illness characteristics. Method: A descriptive, cross-sectional survey included 227 patients with cancer. All patients that underwent treatment at a nursing and supportive treatment unit were interviewed face-to-face between January and November 2018. Regression models were used to control for gender, education, religiosity, pain intensity, functional capacity, life satisfaction and happiness. Results: The non-terminally ill cancer patients experienced the exceptional importance of Inner Peace and Giving/Generativity and Forgiveness, while Religious and Existential needs were scored marginally lower, but nevertheless much higher as compared to patients with cancer from West-Europe. Correlation analysis revealed strong positive and in one case moderate interconnections among each of four spiritual needs, with the strongest association between Existential needs and the other three domains. Unmet Religious needs were positively associated with pain intensity and reduced physical capacity of patients, but less with life satisfaction. Pain intensity was the strongest predictor of cancer patients' Existential, Inner Peace and Giving/Generativity and Forgiveness needs. Conclusion: This study provides the first empirical evidence about the spiritual needs of cancer patients' care in Lithuania. Findings will serve as the basis for specific strategies to enhance the holistic well-being of these patients. The insights into oncology patients' unmet spiritual needs may be relevant to other Eastern European and former Soviet Union countries with similar developmental histories.
OPINION Spirituality and religiosity in supportive and palliative care
To provide an updated overview about the role of spirituality and religiosity in the way patients with lifethreatening illnesses cope, and the importance of providing a comprehensive spiritual assessment and spiritual care in an interdisciplinary team work setting, such as supportive and palliative care.
Spirituality in Palliative Patients: A literature Review
2014
Introduction : Spirituality is important for palliative patients. Studies on spirituality in palliative patients were found differently in terms of the importance and the assessment. The purpose of the study : To describe the importance of spirituality and identify the most appropriate tool for spirituality assessment used in palliative patients. Methodology : Searching were conducted from PubMed and ProQuest during 2005-2014. A total 15 studies were analyzed for this review. Result : Spirituality was important for palliative patients in reducing distress, anxiety, depression and also improving quality of life. There were numerous measurements have been used to measure spirituality in palliative patients which showed good psychometric properties and can be used in multicultural palliative patients population such as MQOL, QUAL-E and POS. Conclusion : Spirituality was reported having a pivotal role for palliative patients. The 8items of GES as a new measurement seems have a feasible and valid in measuring spirituality for palliative patients. However, the measurement still requires further testing.