A meta‐analytic review of religious or spiritual involvement and social health among cancer patients

Sherman, Allen C.; Merluzzi, Thomas V.; Pustejovsky, James E.; Park, Crystal L.; George, Login S.; Fitchett, George; Jim, Heather; Munoz, Alexis R.; Danhauer, Suzanne C.; Snyder, Mallory A.; Salsman, John M.

doi:10.1002/cncr.29352

Cited by 95 publications

(77 citation statements)

References 53 publications

(37 reference statements)

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“…Recent meta-analyses of 1341 effects drawn from over 44,000 patients with cancer demonstrated an overall positive relationship between RS and self-reported measures of health outcomes (Park et al, 2015) but the strength of that relationship varied as a function of both the RS dimension and the physical (Jim et al, 2015), mental (Salsman et al, 2015), and social (Sherman et al, 2015) outcomes assessed. The strongest relationships were found between affective dimensions of RS (e.g., sense of meaning, purpose, or connection to a source larger than oneself) and mental health outcomes, whereas behavioral RS constructs (e.g., service attendance, prayer and meditation) showed few significant associations with health, except for a modest positive relationship with social health outcomes.…”

Section: Rs and Health Research: Current Findings And Critiquementioning

confidence: 99%

Advancing our understanding of religion and spirituality in the context of behavioral medicine

et al. 2016

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Recognizing and understanding the potentially powerful roles that religiousness and spirituality (RS) may serve in the prevention and amelioration of disease, as well as symptom management and health related quality of life, significantly enhances research and clinical efforts across many areas of behavioral medicine. This article examines the knowledge established to date and suggests advances that remain to be made. We begin with a brief summary of the current knowledge regarding RS as related to three exemplary health conditions: (a) cardiovascular disease; (b) cancer; and, (c) substance abuse. We then focus on particular concerns for future investigations, emphasizing conceptual issues, possible mediators and moderators of relationships or effects, and methodology. Our discussion is framed by a conceptual model that may serve to guide and organize future investigations. This model highlights a number of important issues regarding the study of links between RS and health: (a) RS comprise many diverse constructs, (b) the mechanisms through which RS may influence health outcomes are quite diverse, and (c) a range of different types of health and health relevant outcomes may be influenced by RS. The multidimensional nature of RS and the complexity of related associations with different types of health relevant outcomes present formidable challenges to empirical study in behavioral medicine. These issues are referred to throughout our review and we suggest several solutions to the presented challenges in our summary. We end with a presentation of barriers to be overcome, along with strategies for doing so, and concluding thoughts.

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Section: Rs and Health Research: Current Findings And Critiquementioning

confidence: 99%

Advancing our understanding of religion and spirituality in the context of behavioral medicine

et al. 2016

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“…The research, exemplified by recent spirituality and cancer meta-analysis Sherman et al 2015;Salsman et al 2015) confirms the importance of attending to this domain, is such that the Scottish National Health Service (NHS Education Scotland 2009), the US Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organisations (Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Associations 2005), and New Zealand's Ministry of Health (Ministry of Health 2010) all call for spiritual needs to be addressed in various healthcare settings. Inevitably, there are challenges to this literature (Sloan et al 1999), which affirms the need for more rigorous research.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New Zealand Nurses’ Perceptions of Spirituality and Spiritual care: Qualitative Findings from a National Survey

et al. 2017

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This paper presents the qualitative findings from the first national survey of New Zealand nurses' views on spirituality and spiritual care. The importance of spirituality as a core aspect of holistic nursing care is gaining momentum. Little is currently known about New Zealand nurses' understandings, perceptions and experience of spirituality. Design: A descriptive online survey. Method: A random sample of 2000 individuals resident in New Zealand whose occupation on the New Zealand electoral roll suggested nursing was their current or past occupation were invited via postcard to participate in an online survey. This paper reports on the free response section of the survey. Findings: Overall, 472 invitees responded (24.1%). From the respondents, 63% completed at least one of the optional free response sections. Thematic analysis generated three metathemes: 'The role of spirituality in nursing practice', 'Enabling best practice', and 'Creating a supportive culture'. Conclusions: Spirituality was predominantly valued as a core aspect of holistic nursing care. However, clarity is needed surrounding what constitutes spiritual care and how this intersects with professional responsibilities and boundaries. Participants' insights suggest a focus on improving the consistency and quality of spiritual care by fostering inter-professional collaboration, and improved provision of resources and educational opportunities.

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“…This is one in a series of three meta-analyses, designed to summarize and synthesize the associations between R/S and patient-reported physical, 14 mental, and social health outcomes. 15 …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A meta‐analytic approach to examining the correlation between religion/spirituality and mental health in cancer

Salsman

Pustejovsky

Jim

et al. 2015

Cancer

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153

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Purpose Religion and spirituality (R/S) are patient-centered factors and often resources for managing the emotional sequelae of the cancer experience. Studies investigating the relationship between R/S (e.g., beliefs, experiences, coping) and mental health (e.g., depression, anxiety, well-being) in cancer have used very heterogeneous measures, with correspondingly inconsistent results. A meaningful synthesis of these findings has been lacking; thus, the purpose of this study was to conduct a meta-analysis of the research on R/S and mental health. Methods Four electronic databases were systematically reviewed and 2,073 abstracts met initial selection criteria. Reviewer pairs applied standardized coding schemes to extract correlational indices of the relationship between R/S and mental health. A total of 617 effect sizes from 148 eligible studies were synthesized using meta-analytic generalized estimating equations; subgroup analyses were performed to examine moderators of effects. Results The estimated mean correlation (Fisher z) was 0.19 (95% CI 0.16–0.23), which varied as a function of R/S dimension: affective, z=0.38 (95% CI 0.33-0.43); behavioral, z=0.03 (95% CI -0.02-0.08); cognitive, z=0.10 (95% CI 0.06-0.14); and ‘other,’ z=0.08 (95% CI 0.03-0.13). Aggregate, study-level demographic and clinical factors were not predictive of the relationship between R/S and mental health. There was little indication of publication or reporting biases. Conclusions The relationship between R/S and mental health is generally a positive one. The strength of that relationship is modest and varies as a function of R/S dimensions and mental health domains assessed. Identification of optimal R/S measures and more sophisticated methodological approaches are needed to advance research.

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A meta‐analytic review of religious or spiritual involvement and social health among cancer patients

Cited by 95 publications

References 53 publications

Advancing our understanding of religion and spirituality in the context of behavioral medicine

Advancing our understanding of religion and spirituality in the context of behavioral medicine

New Zealand Nurses’ Perceptions of Spirituality and Spiritual care: Qualitative Findings from a National Survey

A meta‐analytic approach to examining the correlation between religion/spirituality and mental health in cancer

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