Spirituality and Religiosity During the Peri-Operative Period for Cancer Patients and their Family: An Integrative Systematic Review

Joann Hunsberger* and Rebecca A. Aslakson

Spirituality and Religiosity During the Peri-Operative Period for Cancer Patients and their Family: An Integrative Systematic Review.

Religion and Spirituality may influence cancer patient’s emotional distress, mental health and healing throughout their diagnosis and treatment. This systematic review examines studies exploring R/S of cancer patients and their family in the perioperative period.

We completed a systematic review of the databases MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, SCOPUS, the Web of Science, and Cochrane library concerning the terms “religion and spirituality” and “cancer surgery”.

Inclusion criteria included qualitative or quantitative studies evaluating R/S of cancer patients or their family members within the perioperative period. Exclusion criteria included review articles, grey literature, editorials, case studies and studies evaluating R/S of healthcare providers.

Seven publications met criteria for analysis. Five studies described cross-sectional surveys, one used a focus-group approach, and one utilized in-person interviews.

Studied populations predominantly were female breast cancer patients. There were considerable heterogeneity in survey instruments, variables, and outcomes.

Studies evaluating R/S of cancer patients and their families in the perioperative period are few and heterogeneous in design. Direct comparison is difficult, but data suggests that R/S during the perioperative period may increase as compared to R/S during other stages of cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Many people use religion for comfort and support when faced with a life-threatening illness such as cancer. Patients who had previously disregarded religion and spirituality may search it out when faced with illness. Carver found that all forms of coping, including religious coping, peaked early around the time of surgery for breast cancer patients and then declined over time.

Palliat Med Hosp Care Open J. 2014; 1(1): 8-15. doi: 10.17140/PMHCOJ-1-103

LATEST ARTICLES

 - 
Arabic
 - 
ar
Bengali
 - 
bn
German
 - 
de
English
 - 
en
French
 - 
fr
Hindi
 - 
hi
Indonesian
 - 
id
Portuguese
 - 
pt
Russian
 - 
ru
Spanish
 - 
es