Abstract

PINTO, Cândida  and  RIBEIRO, José Luís. Evaluation of cancer survivor's spirituality: implications on quality of life. Rev. Port. Sau. Pub. [online]. 2010, vol.28, n.1, pp.49-56. ISSN 0870-9025.

The intersection between spiritual dimension and health has become a research area of increasing interest in the last years. Spiritual dimension is described as relevant in the meaning attributed to the suffering related to a chronic disease, and also as a hope resource. Cancer is a life threatening condition and even when physical symptoms become less important, spiritual issues raised during the disease process remains. This research paper aims to analyse the spirituality differences in a group of cancer survivor patients, according to clinic and socio-demographic variables, and assesses the correlation between spirituality and quality of life dimensions. Material and Methods: The participants were 426 patients who had suffered from an oncologic disease. They filled up a socio-demographic questionnaire, a spirituality scale and the QLQ-C30. Results: We found significant statistical differences between spirituality dimensions and socio-demographic and clinic variables. We noticed a significative although moderate value, between spirituality and quality of life. We can deduce that spirituality is faced as a notion related with quality of life, although conceptually distinct. Conclusions: This research results emphasise the relevance of a global perspective of the patient. Other research works developed in this area, will be needed in order to validate these results.

Keywords : spirituality; cancer survivors; quality of life.

        · abstract in Portuguese     · text in Portuguese     · Portuguese ( pdf )