Comparison of Spiritual Health, Life Expectancy and Death Anxiety in Two Groups of Patients with Curable Cancer and Non-cancer Patients: Evidence of Gender Differences

The purpose of this study was to compare the spiritual health, life expectancy and death anxiety in two groups of patients with curable cancer and non-cancer patients, taking into account the role of gender.

The method of this study was causal-comparative method. The statistical population was cancer patients referring to private cancer treatment centers and non-cancer patients referring to Shiraz private health centers. The selection of 100 cancer patients (50 men/50 women) was performed using available sampling method. To select 100 non-cancer individuals (50 men/50 women), a random sampling method was used. The research instruments were included Palutzian and Ellison Spiritual Health Questionnaire, the Snyder Hope Scale Questionnaire and the Templer Death Anxiety Scale Questionnaire. Data were analyzed using factorial analysis of variance.

According to the results of this study, there was no significant difference between males and females in terms of spiritual health variable. But the life expectancy variable was reported more frequently in men than other groups. Also, there was a significant difference in the death anxiety index in cancer patients compared with non-cancer individuals, with the highest mean for men with cancer and the lowest mean for non-cancer men.

Accurate knowledge about and obtaining a proper understanding of the emotions and attitudes of patient towards their illness and their mental and spiritual abilities in coping with illness and even death can be advantageous for the treatment team and the family of patients in order to help these patients.