Religious Attitude, Spirituality and Mental Adjustment in Turkish Geriatric Oncology Patients

Abstract

Aim: This study was conducted to determine the relationship between religious attitudes and spirituality levels of geriatric oncology patients and their psychological reactions to cancer. Methods: The sample consisted of 261 geriatric oncology patients who were inpatients in oncology and hematology clinics of a university hospital. The research was conducted between 30 July 2020 and 26 January 2022. Data were collected using the Mental Adjustment to Cancer (MAC) scale, the Ok-Religious Attitude (ORA) scale, and the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-being (FACIT-SP) scale. The effect of the ORA scale and FACIT-SP scale scores on the MAC scale were analyzed using path analysis. Results: A positive relationship was found between Spiritual Well-Being and Fighting (beta = 0.028, p < 0.001) and Anxious Anticipation (beta = 0.024, p < 0.001); a negative relationship was found between Fatalism (beta = -0.023, p < 0.001), Helplessness/Hopelessness (beta = -0.04, p < 0.001) and Denial/Avoidance (beta = -0.026; p < 0.001). A positive relationship was found between Religious Attitude and Fighting Spirit (beta = 0.154, p = 0.009) and Anxious Anticipation (beta = 0.231, p < 0.001), while a negative relationship was found between Religious Attitude and Despair/Hopelessness (beta = -0.413, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Patients' religious attitudes and spiritual well-being levels affected their psychological reactions to cancer, increased their "fighting spirit" and their "anxious preoccupation" about the disease, and decreased their helplessness/ hopelessness, fatalism, denial and avoidance.