An overview of Spiritual health in cancer patients

Spirituality is one of the complex and multi-dimensional aspects of human experience and has empirical knowledge and behavior. Spiritual distress and crises can have an adverse effect on their physical and mental health. On the other hand, diseases caused spiritual distress for the patient and her family. The problem in patients with chronic diseases such as cancer is more important. This review aims to provide an overview of spiritual health in cancer patients. The study is a descriptive - prospective, which conducted on 1442 cancer patients diagnosed in the Department of Pathology of Rajai, Kosar and Velayat Hospitals in the period from November 2011 to December 2015 by census method. Data were collected by using Palutzian Ellison spiritual health questionnaire. Both descriptive and statistical analysis methods were applied. P <0.05 The average age of 1465 patients was 56± 66/74 (age range 26 to 81). 850 (58%) patients were male. The results showed that spiritual health level of 21% of patients were at intermediate level, 55 percent on average, and 23 percent were at a high level. Religious health scores of the patients were higher than that of health existence. Between demographic variables and spiritual health (P=0.65) no significant association was not found. But between the rate of cancer progression and spiritual health, statistically significant correlation was found (P=0.04). Pay attention to spirituality in patients with chronic diseases, is an important index. Doctors need were familiar with all aspects of the involved factors in disease include psychological, physical and spiritual. Therapeutic interventions should be including spiritual advice on prevention, medical treatment and complementary care. In addition, basic elements of spiritual advices should be considered in routine medical screening.