Relationship Among Spiritual Well-Being, Symptom Distress and Social Dependency in Patients Newly Diagnosed With Advanced Cancer

• Published in: Psycho-oncology (Chichester, England) Vol. 21; p. 94
• Main Authors: Bai, M, Ercolano, E, Ma, T, Lazenby, M, McCorkle, R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.02.2012
• Subjects: Cancer; Emotional disorders; Medical diagnosis; Oncology; Spirituality
• ISSN: 1057-9249; 1099-1611

Spiritual well-being is suggested to be an important clinical outcome for people with advanced cancer, preserving them in the midst of distressing symptoms. Spiritual well-being is conceptualized as having three dimensions: meaning, peace, and faith. There is little research describing spiritual well-being of patients newly diagnosed with advanced cancer, and how it relates to symptom distress and social dependency. The study aims to describe spiritual well-being in people newly diagnosed with advanced cancer, as well as its relationship to symptom distress and social dependency. This study is a secondary data analysis of an ongoing cluster randomized clinical trial with patients diagnosed with gastrointestinal, gynecological, head and neck, and lung cancer of advanced stage, who are undergoing cancer treatment. Pearson correlation analyses, analysis of variance and chi-square tests were used to achieve study aims. Of 55 patients, 64% were female, with a mean age of 59 years. Though 40% of participants reported being "very spiritual", overall score was lower than those reported in the literature. Spiritual well-being was moderately inversely related to symptom distress (p < 0.01); while patients who possessed less Peace reported more symptom distress (p < 0.001), those having less Meaning in life reported more social dependency (p < 0.01). Less educated or unmarried patients tended to have higher social dependency (p < 0.05). Men reported they prayed less (p < 0.001), were not spiritual (p = 0.02) and had lower faith (p < 0.01). Patients who reported they never prayed reported lower faith but not lower overall spiritual well-being. The findings add to our understanding of the effects of cancer on the spiritual well-being of patients with advanced cancer at the time of diagnosis, indicating significant interwoven relationship among distinct aspects of their experience. This study supports the three dimensions of the spiritual well-being construct and confirms the view that spirituality is related with religion yet a sufficiently distinct concept, worthy of focused investigation. The nature of the relationship among spiritual well-being, symptom distress and social dependency needs further study. Besides symptom burden and declining functional status, appreciation of spiritual well-being of people with advanced cancer is warranted. Being male, less educated, and unmarried may especially need monitoring. NIH, NINR, 1R01NR011872.