The Influence of Spiritual Well-being on the Quality of Life of Cancer patients in Palliative care, Chennai.

Abstract

Cancer has become a big threat to India as it has been estimated to have a mortality rate of 0.3 million deaths per day, also there have been recorded 80.6000 existing cases of Cancer patients by the end of the last century. This study is about the influences of spirituality on the quality of life of cancer patients in palliative care. The study was conducted in RMD palliative care and Jeevodaya hospice. All the institutions work with cancer patients who are in their end stage. The researcher used semi- semi-structured interview schedule consisting of Two scales formulated by the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer. The scales were EORTC QLQ- C30 and EORTC QLQ-SWB32. The collected data is analyzed using SPSS software. Pearson’s correlation is done to find the relation between spiritual well-being and the Quality of Life of patients. It is found that spiritual well-being has a weak influence on the quality of life. In the Indian context, the patients relate spirituality only to their religious faith and hope. They don’t realize how to find meaning in their lives. All the questions answered were about religion, faith, and belief. They live without undergoing much pain, therefore they think their quality of life is good. According to them, pain determines their quality of life. Enhancing their bodily symptoms will not result in a good quality of life. Quality of life is achieved through holistic care. They measure their quality of life in the context of physical well-being and spirituality in the context of religion, due to which the perceived spirituality is different from the actual spirituality.