Predictors of existential and religious well-being among cancer patients

Abstract

Well-being and mental health are not only direct functions of amount of stress, but also depend on how people appraise and face critical situations. Spiritual well-being seems to be a central component of psychological health in physically healthy individuals and it offers some protection against end-of-life despair in those with chronic diseases. In this study, 250 out and in-patients with a cancer diagnosis were interviewed with standardised instruments to measure two aspects of spirituality, existential and religious well-being, coping strategies, psychological state, and quality of life (QoL). Using multivariate logistic regression models we found that coping strategies characterized by acceptance and positive reinterpretation of the stressor, and the absence of anxiety disorder, independently increased the likelihood of the existential well-being (Odds Ratio, OR, 7.7, and OR, 4.5, respectively), whereas religious well-being was not significantly associated with these variables. Our findings show that existential and religious well-being may be very different. A spirituality-based intervention could be differently utilized by patients with different beliefs, cognitive and behaviour characteristics. Measure of coping strategies and psychological state should be part of routine management of cancer patients.

A Systematic Review of Associations between Spiritual Well-Being and Quality of Life at the Scale and Factor Levels in Studies among Patients with Cancer

“…41 This positive association was consistent for overall QOL (ranges from 0.49 to 0.70) and for physical (ranges from 0.25 to 0.28) and mental health (ranges from 0.55 to 0.73). 10,20,24,26 The correlation between Meaning/ Peace and mental health was found to be stronger than physical health in three studies, 11,29,45 although not for 288 BAI AND LAZENBY 2. FACIT-Sp-12 and two subscales remained independent predictors of total FACT-G controlling for demographic and clinical characteristics.…”

“…Twenty-seven studies were conducted in the United States, two in Australia, 20,21 two in Jordan, 22,23 and one study each in Japan, Iran, Italy, the Netherlands, and Canada. [24][25][26][27][28] Sample size ranged from 44 18 to 8805. 29 Thirteen studies conducted in the United States had a significant proportion of subjects that belong to racial, ethnic, or religious minorities.…”

Illness appraisal, religious coping, and psychological responses in men with advanced cancer

“…Because it would be impractical to provide psychological interventions to all cancer patients, there is a need to understand factors that predict negative and positive psychological responses so that interventions can be targeted to those who need them [8]. Psychological responses to cancer are known to vary depending on patient and disease characteristics [3].…”

“…Because of the existential threat of death, patients with cancer frequently employ religious coping strategies [14], and there has been increased attention on the connections between religious coping and psychological responses [8].…”

Numinosity and Adaptation to Stress: The Role of Religiosity, Spirituality and Religious Coping in Adaptation to Significant Life Events

“…The process of meaning-making is often viewed as synonymous with "spirituality" (Mazzotti, Mazzuca, Sebastiani, Scoppola, & Marchetti, 2011). A stressful event can be reframed as a spiritual opportunity that offers benefits and a chance to gain insights about life (Hodge, 2005).…”