Gina Heuschkel, Ludwig Fischer von Weikersthal, Constanze Junghans, Bijan Zomorodbakhsch, Christoph Stoll, Franz-Josef Prott, Stefan Fuxius, Oliver Micke, Achim Richter, Doreen Sallmann, Jens Büntzel, Catalina Hoppe, Jutta Huebner
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Introduction: Cancer diagnoses are constantly increasing in clinical practice. Therefore, more and more patients are interested in how they can actively participate in the process of treatment. Spirituality represents a hidden issue of the population, which counts as a branch of complementary and alternative treatment. Therefore, the aim of our study was to investigate whether there are associations between spirituality and demographic and psychosocial factors, as well as religious beliefs, in cancer patients.
Methods: We conducted a survey with 451 participants in 10 oncology centers between March and July 2021. A composition of the following 9 different questionnaires was used to collect data on spirituality, demographics, resilience, self-efficiency, life satisfaction, and sense of coherence: Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-Being (FACIT-Sp12), General Life Satisfaction Short Scale (L-1), Resilienzskala Kurzform (RS-13), Sense of Coherence Scale - Leipziger Kurzform (SOC-L9), Allgemeine Selbstwirksamkeit Kurzskala (AKSU), Adolescent Food Habits Checklist, Likert-Scale of daily activities, questionnaire of the Working group Prävention und Integrative Onkologie (PRiO), and personal opinion on the cause of the disease. Calculated data and analyzed group differences using ANOVA Bonferroni were used to test associations between spirituality and the variables studied. For more detailed examination of spirituality, we took a closer look at the different components of spirituality - peace, meaning, and faith - and their relation to each other (three-factor spirituality analyses).
Results: Higher spirituality scores in total as well as meaning, peace, and faith were each associated with higher levels of resilience and life satisfaction. Higher religious belief was found to be associated with higher spiritual attitudes. High personal self-efficiency was found in people with higher spiritual beliefs in general as well as higher meaning and peace. Meaning and peace emerge as essential components of spiritual well-being and show a stronger association with expressions of general spirituality than faith.
Conclusion: Spirituality takes a crucial role among the resources of life-threatening diseases. As such, further research is needed to expand and integrate patient options into a modernized concept of care. Our data indicate that higher spiritual well-being is associated with a more tolerant approach to illness. Thus, addressing spiritual needs in therapy is associated with better psychological adjustment to the individual situation and reduces negative distress. To promote spiritual needs in the future, cognitive as well as affective components of spirituality should be emphasized.
期刊介绍:
With the first issue in 2014, the journal ''Onkologie'' has changed its title to ''Oncology Research and Treatment''. By this change, publisher and editor set the scene for the further development of this interdisciplinary journal. The English title makes it clear that the articles are published in English – a logical step for the journal, which is listed in all relevant international databases. For excellent manuscripts, a ''Fast Track'' was introduced: The review is carried out within 2 weeks; after acceptance the papers are published online within 14 days and immediately released as ''Editor’s Choice'' to provide the authors with maximum visibility of their results. Interesting case reports are published in the section ''Novel Insights from Clinical Practice'' which clearly highlights the scientific advances which the report presents.