Spiritual well-being among cancer patients and their nurses (original) (raw)
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
Palliative & supportive care, 2014
Objective: In our context, existential plight refers to heightened concerns about life and death when people are diagnosed with cancer. Although the duration of existential plight has been proposed to be approximately 100 days, evidence from longitudinal studies raises questions about whether the impact of a diagnosis of advanced cancer may require a longer period of adjustment. The purpose of our study was to examine spiritual well-being (SpWB) and quality of life (QoL) as well as their interrelationship in 52 patients with advanced cancer after 100 days since the diagnosis at one and three months post-baseline. Method: The study was designed as a secondary data analysis of a cluster randomized clinical trial involving patients with stage 3 or 4 cancer undergoing treatment. SpWB was measured using the 12-item Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-Being Scale (FACIT-Sp-12); common factor analyses revealed a three-factor pattern on the FACIT-Sp-12. Quality o...
Spirituality and Its Impact on Cancer Patients’ Health-Related Quality of Life
CARC Research in Social Sciences, 2022
The main theme of the present study is to evaluate the impact of spirituality on the quality of life of cancer patients. Moreover, this study is conducted in the following hospitals namely NORI, Shifa hospital, and fuji foundation hospital. A sample size of 50 respondents was randomly selected from the above-mentioned hospitals. The study was analyzed at a univariate level. The findings of the study revealed, that 60.0% of patients have a medium level of spirituality level, and 60.0% of patients find very much comfort and strength in their spiritual practices. The study concluded that spirituality positively affected the quality of life among the study respondents. The study also explores that cancer patients should engage in spiritual activities to enhance their quality of life. Patients should discuss their medical concerns with family members and medical staff so they can offer better care. Patients should have access to both emotional and practical help from family members to make their illness more pleasant.
Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 2002
A significant relation between religion and better health has been demonstrated in a variety of healthy and patient populations. In the past several years, there has been a focus on the role of spirituality, as distinct from religion, in health promotion and coping with illness. Despite the growing interest, there remains a dearth of well-validated, psychometrically sound instruments to measure aspects of spirituality. In this article we report on the development and testing of a measure of spiritual well-being, the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-Being (FACIT-Sp), within two samples of cancer patients. The instrument comprises two subscales-one measuring a sense of meaning and peace and the other assessing the role of faith in illness. A total score for spiritual well-being is also produced. Study 1 demonstrates good internal consistency reliability and a significant relation with quality of life in a large, multiethnic sample. Study 2 examines convergent validity with 5 other measures of religion and spirituality in a sample of individuals with mixed early stage and metastatic cancer diagnoses. Results of the two studies demonstrate that the FACIT-Sp is a psychometrically sound measure of spiritual well-being for people with cancer and other chronic illnesses.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in the United States and constitutes a major source of medical and psychological morbidity. The psychosocial sequelae, while not always severe, can last up to a year after diagnosis. This may be a time when spiritual and social resources become important. It is known that practical and emotional support during treatment for breast cancer benefits the patient's mood and quality of life, but it is unclear as to how spirituality and spiritual well-being may benefit the patient. This study examined this question by exploring the relationships between spirituality, spiritual well-being, physical well-being, functional well-being, mood, and adjustment style in a sample of 191 women recently diagnosed with breast cancer or who had metastatic cancer. The women were asked to complete questionnaires pertaining to the above topics at enrollment to a group intervention study. Measures of spirituality, spiritual well-being, physical well-being, functional wellbeing, mood, and adjustment style taken at the same point in time were then correlated with each other. There were more significant correlations of spirituality and spiritual wellbeing with functional well-being than physical well-being, but items pertaining to meaning and peace tended to correlate significantly with physical well-being. Spirituality also correlated significantly with several coping styles, but not avoidance as has been previously suggested. Regression analyses were also performed to find the best combination of variables to predict physical and functional well-being. A combination of social well-being and several questions pertaining to peacefulness accounted for 18% of the variance in physical well-being. However, a combination of social wellbeing and the spiritual scales accounted for 46% of the variance in functional well-being. When the spiritual scales were examined alone, they accounted for 40% of the variance in functional well-being. The results of this study confirm the importance of spirituality and spiritual well-being in both physical and functional well-being. Asking patients about the role of spirituality in their lives may be a useful marker to predict patient's ability to cope with stress in their lives and of their quality of life. 17 Levine, Targ 166 INTEGRATIVE CANCER THERAPIES 1(2); 2002 pp. 166-174 EGL and ET are at the
Spirituality, distress, depression, anxiety, and quality of life in patients with advanced cancer
To study the influence of spiritual well being (Sp WB) on symptoms of distress, depression, and other dimensions of quality of life in advanced cancer patients receiving palliative care. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was cross-sectional in nature. Fifty patients with advanced cancer from a hospice were assessed with the following instruments: the visual analog scale for pain (VAP), M.D. Anderson symptom inventory (MDASI), Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS), Functional assessment of cancer therapy -Palliative Care (FACT-pal), and Functional assessment of chronic illness therapy-spiritual well-being (FACIT-sp). We studied the correlations between spirituality and other variables on these scales. RESULTS: Depression and anxiety were negatively correlated with spiritual wellbeing (Sp WB). Sp WB was significantly correlated with fatigue (r = -0.423, P = 0.002), symptom distress (r = -0.717, P < 0.001), memory disturbance (r = -0.520, P < 0.001), loss of appetite (r = -0.399, P = 0.004), drowsiness (r = -0.400, P = 0.004), dry mouth (r = -0.381, P = 0.006), and sadness (r = -0.720, P < 0.001). Sp WB was positively correlated with all the other aspects of QOL measures. Predictors such as palliative care well-being (t = 2.840, P = 0.008), distress (t = -2.582, P = 0.015), sadness (t = -2.765, P = 0.010), mood (t = 2.440, P = 0.021), and enjoyment in life (t = -3.586, P = 0.001) were significantly correlated with Sp WB, after regression analysis. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that spiritual well being is an important component of the quality of life of advanced cancer patients, and is closely related to the physical and psychological symptoms of distress. It should be addressed appropriately and adequately in palliative care settings.