Case Control Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Psychiatr. Aug 19, 2021; 11(8): 449-462
Published online Aug 19, 2021. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v11.i8.449
Impact of spiritual care on the spiritual and mental health and quality of life of patients with advanced cancer
Xiang-Hong Sun, Xing Liu, Bo Zhang, Yu-Mei Wang, Ling Fan
Xiang-Hong Sun, Intensive Care Unit, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110004, Liaoning Province, China
Xing Liu, Department of Urology, Shaanxi Provincial People's Hospital, Xi’an 710000, Shaanxi Province, China
Bo Zhang, Department of Oncology, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110004, Liaoning Province, China
Yu-Mei Wang, Hospice Care Unit, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110004, Liaoning Province, China
Ling Fan, Nursing Department, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110004, Liaoning Province, China
Author contributions: Sun XH contributed to study design, experimental studies, data analysis, and manuscript writing; Liu X contributed to literature research, experimental studies, data analysis, and statistical analysis; Zhang B contributed to literature research, data analysis, and statistical analysis; Wang YM contributed to experimental studies and data acquisition; Fan L contributed to study design, manuscript revision, and manuscript final version approval.
Institutional review board statement: This study was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University (Approval No.: 2018PS362K).
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors have no conflict of interest to declare.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement—checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement—checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ling Fan, PhD, Chief Nurse, Full Professor, Nursing Department, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, No. 36 Sanhao Street, Shenyang 110004, Liaoning Province, China. fanl@sj-hospital.org
Received: March 18, 2021
Peer-review started: March 18, 2021
First decision: June 5, 2021
Revised: June 18, 2021
Accepted: July 14, 2021
Article in press: July 14, 2021
Published online: August 19, 2021
Processing time: 147 Days and 0.4 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Cancer is a growing threat to human health. Due to the double torment of cancer and cancer treatment, patients with advanced cancer generally have a low quality of life. At present, there is a lack of systematic spiritual care plans for patients with advanced cancer as well as systematic guidance plans on the specific clinical application of spiritual care for advanced cancer patients. We hypothesized that our care plan would be effective in improving the spiritual and mental health and quality of life of patients with advanced cancer.

AIM

To construct a spiritual care plan suitable for Chinese patients with advanced cancer through literature analysis.

METHODS

From February to December 2018, through purpose sampling, we selected 100 advanced cancer patients from the Oncology Department and Hospice Ward of a tertiary hospital in Liaoning Province who met the study standards. Patients were randomly divided into experimental and control groups, with 50 cases in each group. The control group received the current routine care, while the experimental group received the advanced cancer spiritual care intervention in addition to routine care.

RESULTS

After the intervention, the overall spiritual health score for the experimental group was higher than that of the control group (4.68 ± 1.36 vs 3.63 ± 1.71). The difference between the groups was statistically significant (P < 0.05). The proportion of anxiety-free patients in the experimental group was 95.45%, which was significantly higher than the 60.98% in the control group. Moreover, the proportion of non-depressed patients in the experimental group was 97.73%, which was significantly higher than the 85.37% in the control group (P < 0.05). The overall quality of life score for the experimental group was significantly higher than that of the control group (5.36 ± 1.16 vs 4.39 ± 1.36, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Our spiritual care plan for patients with advanced cancer could improve their spiritual health and quality of life and reduce negative mental health symptoms.

Keywords: Cancer; Spiritual care; Depression; Anxiety; Spiritual health; Quality of life

Core Tip: We constructed a spiritual care program for advanced cancer patients suitable for Chinese culture and national conditions, and carried it out for advanced cancer patients. Results showed that the spiritual health status and quality of life of advanced cancer patients were improved, and their anxiety and depression reduced.