1503P - Spiritual needs in cancer patients: A cross-sectional study

Background

Spirituality is important in cancer care. Few studies have assessed the spiritual needs (SN) of cancer patients. The purpose of this study was to assess the SN of patients undergoing curative or palliative cancer treatments, and to evaluate the relationship between SN and their health-related quality of life (QOL).

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional study using a brief questionnaire on the healthcare team's approach to spirituality, the Duke University Religion Index (DUREL), the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy Spiritual Well Being Version 4 (FACIT-SP), and the Spiritual Needs Assessment for Patients (SNAP) in outpatient adults with solid tumors undergoing curative-intent or palliative cancer treatments. Informed consent was obtained from all patients.

Results

From March to October/2022, 150 patients were included: 75 receiving curative-intent treatment and 75, palliative. Patients who wanted a spirituality approach by the healthcare team had higher total SN and psychosocial, spiritual, and religious scores than patients who did not want it (p < 0.0001), but lower QOL scores (FACIT-G p = 0.001 and FACIT-SP p = 0.004). SN or QOL did not differ according to treatment intention (p = 0,444 and p = 0,159 respectively), age (r = 0,059), education level (p = 0,999), sex (p = 0,186), or marital status (p = 0,528). There was a predominant weak correlation between SN and QOL (r < 0,4); a moderate negative relationship between emotional well-being and spiritual domain needs (r = -0,416); a weak correlation between SN and the three dimensions of DUREL (r < 0,4); a moderate positive relationship (0,461 < r < 0,616) between faith subscale of spiritual well-being and the three dimensions of DUREL; and also, a moderate positive relationship (r = 0,410) between spiritual well-being and intrinsic religiosity.

Conclusions

In our study, patients who wanted a spiritual approach from the healthcare team had higher SN and lower QOL. SN were not related to cancer treatment intentions or the patient religiosity. Assessment of spirituality may improve cancer care, and further studies could evaluate screening and interventions in this area.

Clinical trial identification

Editorial acknowledgement

Legal entity responsible for the study

The authors.

Funding

Has not received any funding.

Disclosure

All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.