Spirituality and quality of life in oncologic patients undergoing chemotherapy treatment

Abstract

The diagnosis of neoplasia causes a great impact on the life of the person who carries it and this is why the attention to spirituality can improve health condition of those who need chemotherapy. This research aims to study the level of spirituality of patents who are undergoing chemotherapy and thus to establish a relation of it with their quality of life (QOL). Eor such purpose, transversal, observational, analytical and non-controlled methods were performed. Patents a]ending Hospital do Cancer Bom Pastor, in Varginha - MG, answered validated questionnaires regarding quality of life and spirituality. In order to analyze the results, Pearson coefficient and the non-parametric test of Mann-Whitney were applied. It was concluded that the higher the spirituality, the higher the QOL regarding peace. We did not demonstrate what superior level of spirituality improves QOL on physical well-being (PWB), however there was improvement in PWB when the emotional and functional conditions were good. We also demonstrated the importance of social and familiar well-being with total QOL.