Spiritual well-being associated with personality traits and quality of life in family caregivers of cancer patients

Abstract

This study points out that caregivers who experience low SWB have a poorer QoL and more problematic intrapsychic aspects of personality, such as low self-acceptance of their own emotions, are self-refusing and unable to be in contact with their own feelings. This suggests that spirituality could be a source of strength and a potential avenue for therapeutic intervention.

Current Advances in Palliative & Hospice Care: Problems and Needs of Relatives and Family Caregivers During Palliative and Hospice Care—An Overview of Current Literature

“…Regarding the year of publication, 36 out of 62 articles were published in 2017 and 28 in 2018. Countries where the respective studies were conducted were the USA/Canada ( n = 23) [9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31], Scandinavia ( n = 7) [32,33,34,35,36,37,38], UK ( n = 4) [39,40,41,42], Germany ( n = 4) [43,44,45,46], Southern Europe (Italy, Portugal, Spain; n = 8) [47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54], East Asia (Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan; n = 4) [55,56,57,58,59,60], Australia/New Zealand ( n = 4) [61,62,63,64], other ( n = 4) [65,66,67,68], and multinational ( n = 2) [69,70].…”

“…Forty-seven studies reported on relatives of advanced cancer patient’s [9,10,11,13,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,34,36,37,38,39,42,43,44,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,65,66,67] and 15 studies included relatives of mixed patient samples [12,14,25,33,35,40,41,45,54,62,63,64,68,69,70]. The environment in which the patient received palliative or hospice care were home care in 18 studies [10,14,25,26,27,30,3...…”

“…The environment in which the patient received palliative or hospice care were home care in 18 studies [10,14,25,26,27,30,33,35,36,37,38,41,42,44,45,54,58,62], specialist inpatient palliative care in four studies [34,43,55,67], inpatient hospice care in 3 studies [13,49,60], mixed settings in 25 studies [9,11,13,19,20,21,22,23,24,28,29,31,32,39,40,47,51,53,56,60,61,63,65,67,70], and 12 other settings/not described [15,16,17,18,46,49,50,52,57,66,68,69]. In 45 studies, the sample only consisted of relatives reporting on their own situation [9,10,11,12,…”

“…Intrinsic spirituality also had a protective effect on emotional distress linked to providing assistance in caregivers of terminally ill cancer patients [48]. Spattuzi et al and Vespa et al both similarly observed that higher spiritual well-being was associated with better outcomes related to mental health, bodily pain, vitality, social activities, and physical and developmental burden in family caregivers of advanced cancer patients [49,50].…”

Spirituality alleviates the burden on family members caring for patients receiving palliative care exclusively

“…Family members caring for loved ones with chronic disease such as cancer are at high risk for psychological distress, which may impair their quality of life due to elevated burden. Previous studies point out that caregivers who experience low spiritual well-being have a poorer Quality of Life and more problematic intrapsychic aspects of personality, such as low acceptance of their own emotions and failure to be in contact with their own feelings [39,40]. It is important to identify the problems and address the spiritual needs of caregivers in order to provide support for their spiritual well-being and reduce their suffering.…”