Spiritual Needs of Lung Cancer Patients and Their Relation to Psychological Distress and Quality of Life

• Published in: Curēus (Palo Alto, CA) Vol. 13; no. 12; p. e20225
• Main Authors: Fradelos, Evangelos C, Albani, Eleni, Papathanasiou, Ioanna V, Prapa, Paraskevi-Maria, Tsomaka, Effrosyni, Bakalis, Vissarion, Artemi, Sofia, Lavdaniti, Maria
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Cureus Inc 07.12.2021; Cureus
• Subjects: Anxiety; Chemotherapy; Health surveys; Lung cancer; Medical personnel; Mental depression; Mental health; Patient satisfaction; Peace; Psychiatry; Psychology; Quality of life; Questionnaires; Religion; Spirituality; Stress; Greece; lung cancer; health-related quality of life; spirituality; spiritual needs; psychological distress
• ISSN: 2168-8184; 2168-8184
• DOI: 10.7759/cureus.20225

Background This study aimed to investigate the spiritual needs of patients suffering from lung cancer in relation to their mental health and quality of life. Methodology A cross-sectional quantitative study design was employed to investigate 110 lung cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. A four-part self-assessment instrument was used to gather the data comprising a sheet containing demographic and clinical information, Spiritual Needs Questionnaire, The Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 Items, and the 12-item Health Survey. Descriptive inferential statistics were applied. Results Of the 110 patients, 71.8% were men, the mean age was 64.25 (±9.3) years, and 71.8% were married. In total, 40.9% of the patients were retired, and 92.7% had a public insurance company. Regarding education, 30% were primary school graduates and 31.8% were high school graduates. Regarding the clinical features of the sample, 23.6% of the patients had small-cell carcinoma, 71.9% had non-small-cell carcinoma, and 4.5% had large-cell carcinoma. Spiritual needs have a negative effect on the mental health component of quality of life (p < 0.001) and can increase psychological distress in lung cancer patients. Conclusions In contrast to the findings of other international studies, spiritual needs appeared to be lower; however, similar to other studies, spiritual needs increased in those suffering from depression and anxiety. Moreover, the subtype of lung cancer also appeared to play a role.