Spiritual and Religious Characteristics in Cancer Patients

Abstract

Bio-psycho-socio-spiritual problems often appear in cancer patients; however, the spiritual and religious characteristics that appear in cancer patients have not been widely studied. The objective of this research was to analyze the spiritual and religious characteristics of cancer patients. This research consisted of a scoping review of national and international articles published in 2013-2018. The researchers searched for articles through Google Scholar, PubMed, and ProQuest with the keywords ‘cancer’, ‘spiritual’ and ‘religious’. There were 2,727 articles identified, and the 38 articles that met the inclusion criteria were reviewed. According to the results, spiritual and religious characteristics in cancer patients included the use of spirituality and religion as a coping mechanism, belief in God as a source of strength, the need for family support and spiritual or religious communities, cancer as a process of spiritual or religious maturity, and changes in spiritual or religious rituals. The results of this review can be used to complement guidelines on spiritual and religious nursing care for cancer patients. Keywords: cancer, palliative, spiritual, religious, terminal care