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Cancer Survivors’ Spiritual Well-Being and Use of Complementary Methods: A Report from the American Cancer Society’s Studies of Cancer Survivors

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Abstract

We examined associations between spiritual well-being and CAM use among 4,139 cancer survivors. We also explored the classification of religious/spiritual practices (R/S) as CAMs and alternative subscale structures of the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy—Spiritual Well-being (FACIT-Sp). We evaluated three aspects of spirituality, Faith, Peace, and Meaning, and use of 19 CAMs in 5 domains. Mind–body methods were subdivided into R/S and non-R/S. All FACIT-Sp factors were associated with CAM use, but in different directions: Meaning and Faith were positively associated; Peace was negatively associated. Peace was negatively associated with R/S CAMs, but not non-R/S CAMs. The prevalence of CAM use dropped from 79.3 to 64.8% when R/S items were excluded. These findings confirm an association between spiritual well-being and CAM use, including some non-R/S CAMs, and provide evidence of the benefits of using the three-factor FACIT-Sp solution and treating R/S CAMs as a separate category.

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Acknowledgments

The American Cancer Society (ACS) Studies of Cancer Survivors (SCS) were funded as an intramural program of research conducted by the ACS Behavioral Research Center. We wish to acknowledge the cooperation and efforts of the cancer registries and public health departments from the states of Alabama, Connecticut, Iowa, Idaho, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Wyoming. We also thank the staff of the hundreds of hospitals, including Stamford Hospital, which reported cases to the participating cancer registries. Lastly, we are grateful to the thousands of cancer survivors, their physicians, and their loved ones who contributed to the collection of these data. The authors assume full responsibility for analyses and interpretation of these data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Behavioral Research Center, American Cancer Society, 250 Williams St., Atlanta, GA, 30303, USA

    Corinne Crammer, Chiewkwei Kaw & Kevin D. Stein

  2. Health Promotions Department, American Cancer Society, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Ted Gansler

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  1. Corinne Crammer
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  2. Chiewkwei Kaw
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  3. Ted Gansler
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  4. Kevin D. Stein
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Correspondence to Corinne Crammer.

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Crammer, C., Kaw, C., Gansler, T. et al. Cancer Survivors’ Spiritual Well-Being and Use of Complementary Methods: A Report from the American Cancer Society’s Studies of Cancer Survivors. J Relig Health 50, 92–107 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-010-9327-x

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