The Spiritual Perspective of Women with Cancer

Abstract

Objective: To compare the spiritual perspective of women diagnosed with types of cancer particular to their gender (breast, uterus, ovarian) to that of women diagnosed with other types of cancer. Method: This is a qualitative, cross-sectional, descriptive comparative study. Pamela Reed’s spiritual perspective scale was used and its reliability with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.799 for 1 and 0.763, for group 2. The sample included 100 women who are receiving treatment for cancer. A socio-demographic survey was applied to characterize the population. Results: The spiritual perspective of women with types of cancer particular to their gender is moderate to equal that of women with other types of cancer. A comparison between the two groups showed no statistical evidence to demonstrate a significant difference. Discussion: The results of this research provide new insights into care for women with oncological diseases. It also indicates a moderate spiritual perspective can contribute to comprehensive care in which nursing recognizes its objectives in terms of providing women with holistic attention, rather than focusing specifically on the type of cancer they have.