American Journal of Applied Psychology
ISSN (Print): 2333-472X ISSN (Online): 2333-4738 Website: https://www.sciepub.com/journal/ajap Editor-in-chief: Apply for this position
Open Access
Journal Browser
Go
American Journal of Applied Psychology. 2014, 2(3), 59-65
DOI: 10.12691/ajap-2-3-1
Open AccessArticle

A Corelational Study of Psychosocial & Spiritual Well Being and Death Anxiety among Advanced Stage Cancer Patients

Pragya Shukla1, and Parul Rishi2

1Barkatullah University, Bhopal, India

2Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal, India

Pub. Date: August 05, 2014

Cite this paper:
Pragya Shukla and Parul Rishi. A Corelational Study of Psychosocial & Spiritual Well Being and Death Anxiety among Advanced Stage Cancer Patients. American Journal of Applied Psychology. 2014; 2(3):59-65. doi: 10.12691/ajap-2-3-1

Abstract

Present study investigated the relationships among psychosocial, spiritual well being and death anxiety among advance stage cancer patients in order to improve the prognosis and quality of life as well as reduce their sufferings. By studying various well beings and death anxiety, it would be possible to identify the psychological needs of cancer patients in order to help the treatment of cancer patients and make them mentally strong to cope with their disease. Data was collected from Sample of 80 advance stage cancer patients, from six exclusive cancer hospitals of western and central zones of India. Patients were identified as advance stage patients as per clinical details (treatment history, diagnostic profile & records) and diagnosis was done by treating doctors of the hospital. Results were analyzed to identify the psychological needs of cancer patients. Obtained results were analyzed using SPSS for descriptive and variance analysis followed by multiple correlation. Results revealed negative correlation between psychosocial well being and death anxiety and also same results were found between spiritual well being and death anxiety. It indicates that enhancing the psychosocial and spiritual well being of cancer patients can reduce their death anxiety and promote better quality of life. Palliative care and Cognitive Behaviour therapy can play a very important role in this regard.

Keywords:
psychosocial well being (PSWB) social well being (SOWB) emotional well being (EWB) functional well being (FWB) spiritual well being (SPWB) death anxiety (DA)

Creative CommonsThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

References:

[1]  Carlson, l. E., & Bultz, B. D. (2003). Benefits of psychosocial oncology care: Improved quality of life and medical cost offset. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 1(8), 1-9.
 
[2]  Cella, D. F., Tulsky D. S. (1993). The Functional assessment of cancer therapy scale: Development and validation of the general measure. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 3, 570-579.
 
[3]  Conte, H., Weiner, M., & Plutchik, R. (1983). Measuring death anxiety: Conceptual, Psychometric, and factor-analytic aspects. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 43, 775-785.
 
[4]  Costanzo, E. S., Ryff, C. D., & Singer, B. H. (2009). Psychosocial adjustment among cancer survivors: Findings from a national survey of health and well-being. Health Psychology, 28(2), 147-156.
 
[5]  Cotton, S. P., Levine, E. G., Fitzpatric, C. M., Dold, K. H., and Targ, E. (1999). Exploring the relationships among spiritual well being, quality of life, and psychological adjustment in women with breast cancer. Psycho-Oncology, 8, 429-438.
 
[6]  Danhuer, S. C., Crawford, S. L., Farmer, D. F., Avis, N. E. (2009). A longitudinal investigation of coping strategies and quality of life among younger women with breast cancer. Journal of Behavioural Medicine, 32, 371-379.
 
[7]  Fitchett, G., Peterman, A. H., Cella, D. (1996). Spiritual beliefs and quality of life in cancer and HIV patients. Paper presented at the World Congress of Psycho- Oncology, New York.
 
[8]  Gonen, G., Kaymak, S. U.,Cankurtaran, E. S., Karslioglu, Ozalp, E., Soygur, H. (2012). The factors contributing to death anxiety in cancer patients. Journal of Psychosocial Oncology 30(3), 347-358.
 
[9]  Guildford, J. P. (1956). Fundamental Statistics in Psychology and Education. N. Y.: McGraw-Hill.
 
[10]  Jafari, N., Farajzadegan, Z., Zamani, A., Bahrami, F., Emami, H., Loghmani, A. (2012). Spiritual well-being and quality of life in Iranian women with breast cancer undergoing radiation therapy. Supportive care in cancer: official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, 10 pg.
 
[11]  Jemal, A., Siegel, R., Ward, E., Murray, T., Xu, J., Thun, M. J. (2007) Cancer statistics, 2007. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, 57, 43-66.
 
[12]  Karnofsky, D. A., Burchenal, J. H. (1949). Evaluation of Chemotherapeutic Agents, Macleod CM (Ed), Columbia University Press, New York.
 
[13]  Kotnis, A., Sarin, R., Mulherkar, R. (2005). Genotype, phenotype and cancer: Role of low penetrance genes and environment in tumor susceptibility. Journal of Biosciences 30, 93-102.
 
[14]  Li, C. C., Rew, L., Hwang, S. L. (2012). The relationship between spiritual well being and psychosocial adjustment in Taiwanese patients with colorectal cancer and a colostomy. Journal of Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nursing, 39(2), 161-169.
 
[15]  Lin, H. R., Susan M. Bauer W. (2003). Psycho-spiritual well-being in patients with advanced cancer: an integrative review of the literature. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 44 (1), 69-80.
 
[16]  Maddi, S. (1980). Development value of fear of death. The Journal of Mind and Behavior, 1, 85-92.
 
[17]  McClain, C. S., Rosenfeld, B., Breitbart, W. (2003). Effect of spiritual well-being on end-of –life despair in terminally-ill cancer patients. Lancet, 361(9369), 1603-1607.
 
[18]  Molassiotis, A., Wilson, B., Blair, S., Howe, T. Cavet, J. (2011). Unmet supportive care needs, psychological well-being and quality of life in patients living with multiple myeloma and their partners. Psycho-Oncology 20, 88-97.
 
[19]  Pedram, M., Mohammadi, M., Naziri, G. H., Aeinparast, N. (2011). Effectiveness of cognitive behavioral group therapy on the treatment of anxiety and depression disorders and on raising hope in women with breast cancer. Journal of Woman and Society, 1, 61-75.
 
[20]  Peterman, A. H., Fitchett, G., Brady, M. J., Hernandez, L., Cella, D. (2002). Measuring spiritual well- being in people with cancer: The Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy--Spiritual Well-being Scale (FACIT-Sp). Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 24, 49-58.
 
[21]  Podmore, E. J., Bingham, L. C., Roberts, K. M., Selby, P. J., Wright, P., & Velikova, G. (2009). Routine assessment of social difficulties in cancer patients: are we opening Pandora’s box? Support Care Cancer, 17, 1425-1432.
 
[22]  Robinson, J. & Turner, J. (2003). Impersonal, interpersonal, and hyper-personal social: Cancer and older adults. Health Communication, 15, 227-234.
 
[23]  Smith, A. B., Wright, P., Selby, P., & Velikova, G. (2007). Measuring social difficulties in routine patient-centered assessment: a Rasch analysis of the social difficulties inventory. Quality of Life Research, 16, 823-831.
 
[24]  Solomon, S., Greenberg, J., & Pyszczynski, T. (2000). Pride and prejudice: Fear of death and social behaviors. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 9(6), 200-204.
 
[25]  Sweeney, C., Schmitz, K. H., &Lazovich, D., (2006). Functional limitation in elderly female cancer survivors. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 98, 521.
 
[26]  Thune-Boyle, I. C., Stygall, J. A., Keshtgar, M. R., Newman, S. P. (2006). Do religious/spiritual coping strategies affect illness adjustment in patients with cancer? A systematic review of the literature. Social Science & Medicine, 63, 151-164.
 
[27]  Tomer, A., & Eliason, G. (1996). Toward a comprehensive model of death anxiety. Death Studies, 20, 343-365.
 
[28]  Tsai, J. S., Wu, Chiu, C. H., Hu, T. Y., Chen, C.U., (2005). Journal of Pain and Symptom Management. 29(4), 344-351.
 
[29]  Wildes, K. A., Miller, A. R., Majors, S. S., Ramirez, A.G. (2009). The religiosity/spirituality of Latina breast cancer survivors and influence on health related quality of life. Psycho-oncology, 18(8), 831-40.
 
[30]  Woods, T., Antoni, M., Ironson, G., Kling, D. (1999). Religiosity is associated with affective and immune status in symptomatic HIV- infected gay men. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 46(2), 165-76.
 
[31]  Wright, E. P., Kiely, M., Johnston, C., Smith, A. B., Cull, A., & Selby, P. J. (2005). Development and evaluation of an instrument to assess social difficulties in routine oncology practice. Quality of Life Research, 14, 373-386.
 
[32]  Yanez, B., Edmoson, D., Stanton, A. L., Park, C. L., Kwan, L. Ganz, P. A., Blank, T. O. (2009). Facets of spirituality as predictors of adjustment to cancer: Relative contributions of having faith and finding meaning. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 77, 730-741.
 
[33]  Zabalegui, A., Sanchez, S., Sanchez, P. (2005). Nursing and cancer support groups. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 51, 369-81.
 
[34]  Zavala, M. W., Maliski, S. L., Kwan, L., Fink, A. & Litwin, M.S. (2009). Spirituality and quality of life in low-income men with metastatic prostate cancer. Psycho-Oncology, 18, 753-761.