Does Spiritual Well-Being Affect Death Anxiety and Psychological Resilience in Cancer Patients?

Correlates of death anxiety for patients with cancer: A systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE

A systematic review and meta-analysis was performed to identify the factors related to cancer death anxiety based on available evidence.

DESIGN

This systematic review and meta-analysis followed the PRISMA 2020 guidelines.

METHODS

Seven databases were searched to identify studies on the relationships of cancer death anxiety with demographic characteristics, disease factors and psychosocial factors from inception to May 2023. The Agency for Medical Research and Quality (AHRQ) scale was used to evaluate the quality of the included studies. After two researchers independently completed the literature search, data extraction and quality evaluation, meta-analysis was conducted by using RevMan5.3 and Stata 17.0 software.

RESULTS

In total, 52 studies were included in this review. The results revealed that there were positive correlations of death anxiety with female sex, the symptom burden, anxiety levels, depression levels, fear of recurrence, attachment avoidance, psychological distress, resignation and confrontation coping. Death anxiety was negatively correlated with age, education level, ability to perform daily activities, self-esteem, spiritual well-being, sense of meaning in life, resilience, quality of life, social support and religious beliefs.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results can inform the design of interventions to address death anxiety and improve the overall quality of life of cancer patients. Healthcare professionals should promptly identify and focus on death anxiety in high-risk populations of cancer patients.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

Cancer patients commonly experience death anxiety, and this anxiety has a nonnegligible impact on patients' mental health and overall quality of life. This study can inform the development of interventions by clinical healthcare professionals.

NO PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION

This was a meta-analysis based on data from previous studies.

The effects of illness perception on death anxiety and satisfaction with life in patients with advanced gastrointestinal cancer

OBJECTIVES

This study was conducted to determine the effects of illness perception on death anxiety and satisfaction with life in patients with advanced gastrointestinal cancer.

METHODS

This cross-sectional and correlational study was conducted with 125 patients with cancer who were admitted to the oncology clinic of a university hospital in the Central Anatolian Region of Turkey between March and December 2022 and who met the research criteria and accepted to participate in the study. The data were collected with "Patient descriptive information form," "Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (BIPQ)," "Scale of Death Anxiety (SDA)," and "Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS)."

RESULTS

It was found that mean BIPQ score of the patients was 39.54 ± 12.82, the mean SDA score was 8.02 ± 3.16, and the mean SWLS score was 14.74 ± 5.19. BIPQ total score was found to affect SDA total score positively (β = .751) and SWLS total score negatively (β = - .591). SDA total score was found to affect SWLS total score negatively (β = -.216) (p < .05).

SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS

It was found that patients with advanced gastrointestinal cancer had moderate level of illness perception and life satisfaction, and high death anxiety. It was found that as illness perception of the patients increased, their death anxiety increased and satisfaction with life decreased. In addition, it was found that as the death anxiety of patients increased, their satisfaction with life decreased.

Status and influential factors of spiritual well-being in cancer patients with drug clinical trials: a cross-sectional study

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to investigate the spiritual well-being status of cancer patients in drug clinical trials and its influencing factors, and to provide theoretical support for the spiritual health intervention of clinical trial cancer patients.

METHODS

This cross-section study was conducted among 244 cancer patients in clinical trials. The Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale Short Form (MSAS-SF), Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale 10 (CD-RISC 10), and Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual (FACIT-SP-12) were used to measure symptom burden, psychological resilience, and spiritual well-being. The Multiple Linear Regression Model was used to determine the influencing factors of patients' spiritual health.

RESULTS

The overall spiritual health level of cancer patients with clinical trials was high (36.87 ± 11.0), and the spiritual health level was positively correlated with psychological resilience (r = 0.872, P < 0.001). Religious belief, nationality, treatment regimen, and resilience were independent risk factors for the spiritual health of cancer patients in clinical trials. Patients with religious beliefs (β = 0.097, P = 0.012), ethnic minorities (β = 0.087, P = 0.023), and high resilience scores (β = 0.874, P < 0.001) had higher levels of spiritual health. Patients who received single antineoplastic therapy (β =  - 0.079, P = 0.028) had lower levels of spiritual health.

CONCLUSION

Our study found that the spiritual health of cancer patients in clinical trials was at a high level, superior to cancer patients receiving conventional anti-tumor therapy. Religious belief, nationality, treatment regimen, and psychological resilience were the influential factors of spiritual health.