Abstract
to investigate the use of religious/spiritual coping among people with cancer undergoing chemotherapy. a quantitative, descriptive and cross-sectional study of 101 patients undergoing intravenous chemotherapy in an oncology outpatients center in a public hospital in Minas Gerais, made in the first semester of 2011. For data collection, an interview was held, using a questionnaire for characterizing the sample and the Brief Spiritual/Religious Coping Scale. all subjects made use of religious/spiritual coping (mean=3.67; sd=0.37); the younger individuals, those with no religion and those who consider spiritual support unimportant tend to use coping negatively; individuals who would like to receive spiritual support and who participate in support groups for cancer patients, on the other hand, use coping positively. the study reinforces that religious/spiritual coping is an important strategy for coping with cancer, and contributes to an understanding of the same as a useful tool for spiritual care.
Highlights
Epidemiological studies carried out in recent decades have indicated a positive relationship between spirituality and religiosity and better health indicators[1]
Regarding the presence of side effects of chemotherapy, 37% of the interviewees stated that they had not experienced side effects, 24% stated that they experienced mild side effects, 14% moderate, and 16% intense; 58% participated in some support group for patients with cancer
The study permits the conclusion that religious/ spiritual coping is an important strategy for coping with cancer
Summary
Epidemiological studies carried out in recent decades have indicated a positive relationship between spirituality and religiosity and better health indicators[1]. Spirituality may be understood as a person’s essence, a search for meaning and purpose in life, while religion may be defined as a partial expression of spirituality, practiced through sacred traditions transmitted through cultural heritage, accompanied by dogma and doctrines[2]. Religious people frequently present a greater capacity for coping with adverse circumstances in life through their use of religious/spiritual coping (RSC)(1). When the patient uses religious resources for this purpose, he/she is using religious coping[4]. Some definitions of religious coping do not explicitly mention spirituality, this too constitutes an important coping resource[3]
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