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Spirituality is associated with better prostate cancer treatment decision making experiences

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Abstract

This study examined whether spiritual beliefs are associated with greater decision-making satisfaction, lower decisional conflict and decision-making difficulty with the decision-making process in newly diagnosed men with prostate cancer. Participants were 1114 men diagnosed with localized prostate cancer who had recently made their treatment decision, but had not yet been treated. We used multivariable linear regression to analyze relationships between spirituality and decision-making satisfaction, decisional conflict, and decision-making difficulty, controlling for optimism and resilience, and clinical and sociodemographic factors. Results indicated that greater spirituality was associated with greater decision-making satisfaction (B = 0.02; p < 0.001), less decisional conflict (B = −0.42; p < 0.001), and less decision-making difficulty (B = −0.08; p < 0.001). These results confirm that spiritual beliefs may be a coping resource during the treatment decision-making process. Providing opportunities for patients to integrate their spiritual beliefs and their perceptions of their cancer diagnosis and trajectory could help reduce patient uncertainty and stress during this important phase of cancer care continuum.

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Notes

  1. As the FACIT-Sp subscales assess quite distinct constructs, it is possible that one or the other was largely responsible for the reported associations with the decision-making outcomes. We wanted to verify that both subscales were associated with the decision-making scales. They were; scores on the meaning/peace subscale were significantly associated with greater decision-making satisfaction (B = 0.03; 95 % CI 0.03, 0.04; p < .001), lower decisional conflict (B = −0.77; 95 % CI −0.92, −0.62; p < .001), and lower decision-making difficulty (B = −0.15; 95 % CI −0.19, −0.11; p < .001). Scores on the faith in illness subscale were also associated with greater decision-making satisfaction (B = 0.02; 95 % CI 0.01, 0.02; p < .001), less decisional conflict (B = −0.39; 95 % CI −0.53, −0.24; p < .001), and less decision-making difficulty (B = −0.06; 95 % CI −0.10, −0.02; p = 0.003).

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Funding

NCI R01 CA152425.

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Correspondence to Michelle A. Mollica.

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Michelle A. Mollica, Willie Underwood III, Gregory G. Homish, D. Lynn Homish, Heather Orom declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures followed were in accordance with ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

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Mollica, M.A., Underwood, W., Homish, G.G. et al. Spirituality is associated with better prostate cancer treatment decision making experiences. J Behav Med 39, 161–169 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-015-9662-1

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