The Relationship Between Spiritual Intelligence and Psychological Well-Being in Women with Breast Cancer

Abstract

Background: As crisis caused by cancer results in imbalances and inconsistencies in body and mind as well as many psychological problems in patient’s life, spiritual intelligence is a critical source to increase resistance to the disease. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between spiritual intelligence and psychological well-being in women with breast cancer in Babol. Methods: This descriptive-correlational study was conducted in the spring 2016 on 90 women with breast cancer referring for treatment to Shahid Rajaei hospital of Babolsar, and Ayatollah Rouhani and the counseling center for cancer registry of Babol. Demographic characteristics of patients such as age, marital status, education, occupation, place of residence (urban or rural), and duration of illness were recoded. In addition, two questionnaires of spiritual intelligence self-report inventory (SISRI-24) and Brief Reef Well-Being (18 questions) were used. Results: The results showed that the mean score of spiritual intelligence was 69.90 ± 14.13 (range of 0 - 98) and the mean score of psychological well-being was 75.01 ± 12.10 (range of 1 - 108). There was a significant relationship between spiritual intelligence and psychological well-being (r = 0.47). The results of multiple regression analysis showed that spiritual intelligence predicted 22% of variance of psychological well-being. Among the demographic characteristics, only the relationship between education and psychological well-being was significant (r = 0.2). Based on the results of backward regression analysis, demographic variables were excluded from the model due to the lack of statistically significant relationship with psychological well-being, and only spiritual intelligence variable (B = 0.41) was identified as the strong independent predictor of psychological well-being of cancer patients in the final model. Conclusions: It is recommended for cancer treatment and cancer support centers to improve the skills of spiritual intelligence in women with breast cancer, especially in terms of personal meaning production, to promote psychological well-being.