Spiritual Wellbeing and Quality of Life among Cancer Patients

Abstract

It is often claimed that a person's quality of life depends on how they view themselves as a whole. A person's holistic health is not totally covered by their physical and psychological well-being, but it does include their spiritual needs. Spirituality is a phenomenon that can affect a person's health-disease process and coping techniques to illness, as is well documented. Explore the significance of this component in terms of a person's holistic existence. This alone merits attention and concentration. Among cancer patients, spiritual wellbeing is related to patient quality of life. These patients' health coping techniques have been significantly impacted by the worry connected with the diagnosis and prognosis of the condition. (Betty, F.2013). Cancer is a crippling illness that negatively affects a person's outlook on life. The majority of those afflicted by it experience its significant impacts not only in their physical but also in their mental aspects, such as emotions of extreme worry and fear of the future. It has undoubtedly had an impact on society's usual way of life. Once this disease is identified, patients frequently experience a loss of purpose in their existence. Their need for spiritual support and coping is impacted by this health catastrophe. Patients' only hope depends mostly on their strong faith and spirituality because the intensity of intrusive therapies, the associated costs, and the fear of death are so overpowering. When determining what makes up the preferred clinical endpoint for a health-related intervention, quality of life is a crucial anchor to consider. (Chan et al, 2012). Because it has such a big impact on someone's quality of life, spiritual well-being is seen as a multi-dimensional subject that has to be examined. Lack of spiritual wellbeing may cause one to lose hope. Since it has remained difficult for the healthcare team, especially nurses, to care for these patients holistically, it is unfortunate that healthcare professionals who are required to look at and care for patients from a holistic point of view frequently fail to meet spiritual requirements of patients. (Rassouli et al 2015).

To answer this, a descriptive correlational study was done which included total of 120 patients diagnosed with Cancer and were patients of San Juan De Dios Hospital. Participants were asked to answer the SWB (Spiritual Well-Being Scale) and CARESSF (Cancer Rehabilitation Evaluation System- Short Form) questionnaires to assess their level of Spiritual Well-Being and Quality of Life and its correlation to their demographics.

The study explored Spiritual Well-Being¶s sXbscales Zhich are the religioXs sXbscale and the existential subscale. Results showed that the religious well-being of the respondents obtained a mean score of 56.36+4.91. This meant that the respondents haYe a positiYe YieZ of one¶s relationship Zith God. FXrthermore, the e[istential Zellbeing of the respondents obtained a mean score of 53.23+5.62, which indicates that respondents haYe high leYel of life satisfaction Zith one¶s life and a clear sense of purpose. Overall, the spiritual well-being of the respondents is high with a mean score of 109.58+9.51.

As for the QXalit\ of life, the sXbgroXps obtained ³not at all´ Zith loZest mean total score on marital (0.26+1.09) and sexual (0.026+1.04), and the highest mean total score on miscellaneous (1.78+2.1). Overall CARES score is 4.42+5.19. This can be interpreted based on the norm of the tool used that the higher the severity of CARES score obtained, there is diminished quality of life among the respondents. The correlation between spiritual well-being and CARES revealed a weak and adverse association with: a. Religious well-being (r=-0.28, p=0.002) b. Existential happiness (r = -0.353, p = 0.000) c. Overall Spiritual Well-Being (r=-0.353, p=0.000)

The respondents' spiritual health decreased as total CARES severity increased. There is a considerable positive and low association between the following factors when it comes to the relationships between demographics, spiritual well-being, and quality of life:

Subscale for Age and Medical Interaction (r=0.304, p0.001). The severity of the medical contact subscale increased with age, which means that as respondents aged, they had a harder time identifying problems with the subscale. Cancer Stage and Physical Subscale had a correlation coefficient of (r=0.234, p=0.010), which can be translated as: the more advanced the cancer stage, the more severe the Physical Subscale. The more restrictions respondents found in the CARES-SF Physical subscale areas as the condition advanced. Gender and the Psychosocial Subscale, however, have a weak and significant inverse association for Gender, Education, and Marital Status (r=-0.224, p=0.014). In comparison to male respondents, female respondents scored higher on the psychosocial subscale. The top three issues raised by female respondents were "worried about being fired" (M=5.00, SD=0.00), "difficult to ask time off for treatments" (M=4.50, SD=0.71), and "often feeling stressed" (M=3.56, SD= 0.96).

According to the gender and various subscale correlation (r=-0.228, p=0.012), female respondents score higher on the various subscale than male respondents. The top issue among females is still "difficulty of finding a job" (M=4.00, SD=0.41). According to the Education and Marital subscale (r=-0.345, p=0.000), the severity of the marital subscale increased with respondents' lower educational attainment levels. Regarding education and other subscales (r=-0.184, p=0.045). The severity of the miscellaneous subscale increases with decreased educational attainment. Similar to that, there is a strong positive association and a weak relationship between: For education, existential well-being, religious well-being, and overall spiritual wellbeing (r=0.297, p=0.001), respectively. Higher levels of education are associated with better religious, existential, and total spiritual well-being in respondents. This indicated that respondents' degree of education was associated with a favorable perception of their relationship with God, a better level of life happiness, and a strong sense of purpose.

There was little correlation found between the variables for work status, religious wellbeing (r=0.2, p=0.028), existential well-being (r=0.237, p=0.009), and overall spiritual well-being (r=0.251, p=0.006).

There is a substantial inverse relationship and a weak correlation for cancer stage between: Cancer stage, religious well-being, and existential well-being (r=-0.209, p=0.022 and r=-0.249, p=0.006). Cancer stage and general spiritual well-being have a negative correlation (r=-0.23, p=0.012). Additionally, there is little correlation between the two factors.

Age, gender, religion, employment position, length of cancer, cancer kind, and stage were not significantly correlated with spiritual well-being, quality of life (as measured by Global CARES), or education (p>0.05), but they were significantly correlated with one other