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Spiritual well-being and depressive symptoms among cancer survivors

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Abstract

Purpose

Depression is common among patients diagnosed with cancer and may be inversely associated with spiritual well-being. While numerous strategies are employed to manage and cope with illness, spiritual well-being has become increasingly important in cancer survivorship research. This study examined the association between spiritual well-being and depressive symptoms.

Methods

This cross-sectional study utilized self-report data from 102 diverse cancer survivors recruited from peer-based cancer support groups in San Diego County. Depression was measured with the Patient Health Questionnaire-8 (PHQ-8) and spiritual well-being was measured with the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy—Spiritual Well-Being (FACIT-Sp) comprised of two subscales (Meaning/Peace and Faith).

Results

Hierarchal regression analysis indicated that Meaning/Peace significantly predicted depressive symptoms after adjusting for socio-demographics, cancer stage, time since diagnosis, and Faith (p < .001).

Conclusions

Findings suggest that Spiritual Well-Being is a valuable coping mechanism and that Meaning/Peace has a unique advantage over Faith in protecting cancer survivors from the effects of depression symptoms; therefore, turning to Faith as source of strength may improve psychological well-being during survivorship.

Implications

Future programs and healthcare providers should be cognizant of the influential role of spiritual well-being in depression symptoms in an effort to improve psychological well-being among cancer survivors.

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Acknowledgments

This research was made possible by grants from Redes En Acción: The National Latino Cancer Research Network. This research was supported by a National Cancer Institute Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities grant awarded to the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio Health (Ramirez, PI) with a subcontract to San Diego State University (SDSU; Talavera, Subcontract PI) (U01 CA114657-05 and U54 CA153511), (Gonzalez, Subcontract Pilot PI) (U01 CA86117) and a grant from the California Breast Cancer Research Program (CBCRP) awarded to SDSU (Castañeda, PI) (18AB-1100), and two National Institute for Minority Health and Health Disparities grants awarded to SDSU (R25MD006853-01, Elder, PI and Talavera, Co-PI;P20 MD002293-01, Talavera, PI). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health or CBCRP. The authors thank the Redes en Acción Community Advisory Board, the Cancer Care Access Partnership (C-CAP) Coalition, and all members of the Redes en Acción research team. Special thanks to all of the cancer support group members who made this research possible.

Conflict of interest

The first author and coauthors do not have a financial relationship with the organizations that sponsored the research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Behavioral and Community Health, Graduate School of Public Health, San Diego State University, 9245 Sky Park Ct. St. 115, San Diego, CA, 92123, USA

    Patricia Gonzalez, Sheila F. Castañeda, Jennifer Dale, Elizabeth A. Medeiros, Christina Buelna, Alicia Nuñez, Rebeca Espinoza & Gregory A. Talavera

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  1. Patricia Gonzalez
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  2. Sheila F. Castañeda
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  3. Jennifer Dale
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  4. Elizabeth A. Medeiros
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  6. Alicia Nuñez
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  8. Gregory A. Talavera
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Correspondence to Patricia Gonzalez.

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Gonzalez, P., Castañeda, S.F., Dale, J. et al. Spiritual well-being and depressive symptoms among cancer survivors. Support Care Cancer 22, 2393–2400 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-014-2207-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-014-2207-2

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