Religion and spirituality have been shown to be significantly associated with measures of adjustment and with the management of symptoms in cancer patients. Religious and spiritual coping have been associated with lower levels of patient discomfort as well as reduced hostility, anxiety, and social isolation in cancer patients [1-3] and in family caregivers.[4] Specific characteristics of strong religious beliefs, including hope, optimism, freedom from regret, and life satisfaction, have also been associated with improved adjustment in individuals diagnosed with cancer.[5,6] Type of religious coping may influence quality of life. In a multi-institutional cross-sectional study of 170 patients with advanced cancer, more use of positive religious coping methods (such as benevolent religious appraisals) was associated with better overall quality of life and higher scores on the existential and support domains of the McGill Quality of Life Questionnaire. In contrast, more use of negative religious coping methods (such as anger at God) was related to poorer overall quality of life and lower scores on the existential and psychological domains.[7,8] A study of 95 cancer patients diagnosed within the past 5 years found that spirituality was associated with less distress and better quality of life regardless of perceived life threat, with existential well-being but not religious well-being as the major contributor.[9] Spiritual well-being, particularly a sense of meaning and peace,[10] is significantly associated with an ability of cancer patients to continue to enjoy life despite high levels of pain or fatigue. Spiritual well-being and depression are inversely related.[11] Higher levels of a sense of inner meaning and peace have also been associated with lower levels of depression, whereas measures of religiousness were unrelated to depression.[12] This relationship has been specifically demonstrated in the cancer setting. In a cross-sectional survey of 85 hospice patients with cancer, there was a negative correlation between anxiety and depression (as measured by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale) and overall spiritual well-being (as measured by the Spiritual Well-Being Scale) (P < .0001). There was also a negative correlation between the existential well-being scores and the anxiety and depression scores but not with the religious well-being score (P < .001).[13] These patterns were also found in a large study of indigent prostate cancer survivors; the patterns were consistent across ethnicity and metastatic status.[14] In a convenience sample, 222 low-income men with prostate cancer were surveyed about spirituality and health-related quality of life. Low scores in spirituality, as measured by the peace/meaning and faith subscale of the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy—Spiritual Well-Being (FACIT-Sp), were associated with significantly worse physical and mental health than were high scores in spirituality.[15] A large national survey study of female family caregivers (N = 252; 89% white) identified that higher levels of spirituality, as measured by the FACIT-Sp, were associated with much less psychological distress (measured by the Pearlin Stress Scale). Participants with higher levels of spirituality actually had improved well-being even as caregiving stress increased, while those with lower levels of spirituality showed the opposite pattern, suggesting a strong stress-buffering effect of spiritual well-being. This finding reinforces the need to identify low spiritual well-being when assessing the coping capacity of family caregivers as well as patients.[4] One author [16] found that cancer survivors who had drawn on spiritual resources reported substantial personal growth as a function of dealing with the trauma of cancer. This was also found in a survey study of 100 well-educated, mostly married/partnered white women with early-stage breast cancer, recruited for the study from an Internet Web site, in which increasing levels of spiritual struggle were related to poorer emotional adjustment, though not to other aspects of cancer-related quality of life.[17] Engaging in prayer is often cited as an adaptive tool,[18] but qualitative research [19] found that for about one third of cancer patients interviewed, concerns about how to pray effectively or the questions raised about the effectiveness of prayer also caused inner conflict and mild distress. A useful discussion of how prayer is used by cancer patients and how clinicians might conceptualize prayer has been published.[20]

Positive religious involvement and spirituality appear to be associated with better health and longer life expectancy, even after controlling for other variables such as health behaviors and social support, as shown in one meta-analysis.[21] Although little of this research is specific to cancer patients, one study of 230 patients with advanced cancer (expected prognosis <1 year) investigated a variety of associations between religiousness and spiritual support.[22] Most study participants (88%) considered religion either very important (68%) or somewhat important (20%); more African Americans and Hispanics than whites reported religion to be very important. Spiritual support by religious communities or the medical system was associated with better patient quality of life. Age was not associated with religiousness. At the time of recruitment to participate in the study, increasing self-reported distress was associated with increasing religiousness, and private religious or spiritual activities were performed by a larger percentage of patients after their diagnosis (61%) than before (47%). Regarding spiritual support, 38% reported that their spiritual needs were supported by a religious community “to a large extent or completely,” while 47% reported receiving support from a religious community “to a small extent or not at all.” Finally, religiousness was also associated with the end-of-life treatment preference of “wanting all measures taken to extend life.” Another study [23] found that helper and cytotoxic T-cell counts were higher among women with metastatic breast cancer who reported greater importance of spirituality. Other investigators [24] found that attendance at religious services was associated with better immune system functioning. Other research [25,26] suggests that religious distress negatively affects health status. These associations, however, have been criticized as weak and inconsistent.[27]

Several randomized trials with cancer patients have suggested that group support interventions benefit survival.[28,29] These studies must be interpreted cautiously, however. First, the treatments focused on general psychotherapeutic issues and psychosocial support. Although spiritually relevant issues undoubtedly arose in these settings, they were not the focus of the groups. Second, there has been difficulty replicating these effects.[30]

References

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2. Kaczorowski JM: Spiritual well-being and anxiety in adults diagnosed with cancer. Hosp J 5 (3-4): 105-16, 1989.  [PUBMED Abstract]
   
   
3. McCullough ME, Hoyt WT, Larson DB, et al.: Religious involvement and mortality: a meta-analytic review. Health Psychol 19 (3): 211-22, 2000.  [PUBMED Abstract]
   
   
4. Kim Y, Wellisch DK, Spillers RL, et al.: Psychological distress of female cancer caregivers: effects of type of cancer and caregivers' spirituality. Support Care Cancer 15 (12): 1367-74, 2007.  [PUBMED Abstract]
   
   
5. Weisman AD, Worden JW: The existential plight in cancer: significance of the first 100 days. Int J Psychiatry Med 7 (1): 1-15, 1976-77.  [PUBMED Abstract]
   
   
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