Demographic and clinical predictors of spirituality in advanced cancer patients: a randomized control study

Aim.  To study the influence of cancer patients’ sociodemographic and clinical characteristics in their spiritual beliefs and attitudes. Background.  Patients’ sociodemographic and clinical characteristics may have an important role in their spirituality. Failure to control these factors can lead to a false estimation on patients’ spiritual beliefs. Previous studies have found that age, gender and health status associate with spiritual attitudes and beliefs. Design.  Survey. Methods.  The Spiritual Involvement and Beliefs Scale was administered to 82 cancer patients. Demographic characteristics, disease status and treatment regimen were recorded. Results.  Among the most significant correlations were those between gender and all the subscales, cancer diagnosis, existential/meditative subscale, radiotherapy treatment and external/ritual, internal/fluid and existential meditative. In the prediction of spirituality, the contribution of gender, age, years of education, performance status and radiotherapy is high. Conclusion.  Acknowledging the specific patients’ demographic and medical characteristics, such as female gender, old age, years of education, performance status and radiotherapy treatment, contributes to the prediction of patients’ spiritual beliefs and attitudes. Relevance to clinical practice.  Addressing spiritual needs in palliative care among the dying needs to be a priority and could be a crucial aspect of psychological functioning, especially when considering certain demographic and clinical characteristics.