Spiritual needs of patients with cancer referred to Alinasab and Shahid Ghazi Tabatabaie hospitals of Tabriz, Iran

Abstract

Background: Patients' spiritual needs increase drastically after a diagnosis of cancer because of its threatening nature. It is very important to recognize any spiritual crisis. This study aimed to determine needs among Iranian patients with cancer. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was undertaken among 200 patients with cancer referred to Alinasab and Shahid Ghazi Tabatabaie hospitals of Tabriz, Iran. The Spiritual Needs Scale was used for data collection. Results: The mean age of participants was 45.9±16.4 years. The majority expressed their main spiritual wishes as "think to God", "trust to God", "see others happy", "try for life beside the disease", "to be prayed for by others', and "need for kindness and help others". Regarding the relationship between demographic characteristics, factors related to disease and the total score of spiritual needs, the results of chi-square tests showed a significant statistical correlations with occupation (p=0.01) and number of children (p=0.03). Also the results of Pearson correlation showed that there is a significant statistical correlation between hospitalization frequency and patients' spiritual needs (p < 0.01, r=-0.24). Conclusions: Determination of spiritual needs of patients with cancer in this study can help health carers and especially nurses to design appropriate spiritual care programs based on individual preferences.