Current status and influencing factors of spiritual needs of patients with advanced cancer: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background Spiritual needs have been associated with better physical health outcomes and provide a context for patients to gain hope and significance in coping with disease. This study aimed to understand the status of spiritual needs of patients with advanced cancer and conducted a quantitative study on the relationship between patient-reported physical, psychological, and social influencing factors and spiritual needs based on a biopsychosocial-spiritual model. Methods In this study, 200 oncology inpatients from Shandong Province were recruited using a convenience sampling method to conduct a cross-sectional survey using general data from December 2020 to June 2022. Correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation between spiritual needs and cancer-related fatigue, anxiety and depression, the family care index, and social support. Multiple regression analysis was used to analyze the relationship between spiritual needs and the influencing factors. Results The spiritual needs score of the patients with advanced cancer was high. Multiple regression analysis revealed that cancer-related fatigue, social support, and religious beliefs influenced the spiritual needs of patients with advanced cancer. Compared with married patients, widowed or divorced patients scored 8.531 points higher on spiritual needs. Cancer-related fatigue, social support, religious beliefs, and marital status (divorced or widowed) explained 21.4% of the total variation in the spiritual needs of patients with advanced cancer. Conclusion The spiritual needs of patients with advanced cancer were significantly correlated with cancer-related fatigue, depression, social support, and other factors. Religious beliefs, marital status, cancer-related fatigue, and social support were the main factors influencing the spiritual needs of patients with advanced cancer. This is a quantitative study, and medical staff can provide targeted spiritual care for patients with cancer based on the above influencing factors.

Is pain a main influence for various spiritual needs of patients with terminal cancer?: a multicenter cross-sectional study in southern China

“…The highest average score for Hope and peace was 3.61 ± 1.00. This is consistent with Shi et al (Shi et al, 2023) Previous studies are inconsistent, and this cross-sectional ndings suggest that patients with terminal cancer have a stronger need to express love and accept care from others. Although this study also found that patients with terminal cancer expressed a strong need for love and connection, such as "having a warm or caring person for me" (3.65 ± 1.20), participants in this study believed that it was more important to maintain hope for life, reduce their pain and achieve inner peace.…”

“…This may be one reason why the pain degree cannot affect the overall spiritual needs of patients with terminal cancer in China. The study by Shi et al results found (Shi et al, 2023) that cancerrelated fatigue is the major factor affecting the spiritual needs of patients with terminal cancer. However, the results of this study did not nd a predictive effect of fatigue on spiritual needs, which may be due to other confounding factors or mediating variables between fatigue and spiritual needs.…”

Effects of Psychosocial-Spiritual Interventions and Psychological Well-being among Cancer Patients Supported by Lady Hope Wellness Institute in Kitisuru, Nairobi County, Kenya

“…Studies (Kirca, et al, 2023)which also supported these findings underline that spiritual care of cancer patients decreases the physical problems, anxiety, sleep disorders, depression and disorders in their social functioning. Spiritual care can aid cancer patients connecting to self, and/or a higher power or nature, find meaning and purpose in life (Shi et al, 2023). Spiritual well-being in cancer patients can reduce symptoms of depression and increase life expectation (Nasution et al, 2020).…”

“…Spiritual intervention is considered as an important aspect of holistic care and has been identified as a standard component that contributes to the well-being of cancer patients. Therefore, spiritual interventions have been studied for their effects on anxiety and depression among patients with cancer (Shi et al, 2023).…”

Instruments for assessing the spiritual needs of cancer patients: A systematic review of psychometric properties

“…Spiritual needs are most commonly defined as the expectations and needs of each person to discover meaning, purpose and value in life (Shi et al, 2023). Cancer patients' spiritual needs not being met can harm their spiritual well-being (Damen et al, 2022;Pearce et al, 2012) and contribute to a lower quality of life and an increased desire for death (Goyarrola et al, 2023;Ripamonti et al, 2018).…”