The Relationship between Spirituality and Fighting Spirit among Cancer Patients in Korea

Kim, Joohyung; Lee, Suk Jeong; Lee, Won Hee

Abstract

PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between spirituality and a fighting spirit among the patients with cancer. METHODS: The participants were 223 patients diagnosed stomach, colorectal or breast cancer, and who were in chemotherapy or follow up care. The study design was cross-sectional at the time of the data collection. The degree of spirituality was measured by the Korean version of WHOQOL Spirituality, Religiousness and Personal Beliefs (SRPB) Pilot Test Module, and fighting spirit was measured by the scores of Mental Adjustment to Cancer(MAC) scale. RESULTS: The score of love appeared to be higher in the patients with follow up care than the patients with treatment(p<0.05) and the score of believing was much higher in patients with recurrence than the patients without (p<0.05). There was a statistically significant correlation among hope, believing, love, forgiveness and acceptance, and fighting spirit. In the multiple regression analysis, hope and believing explained much variance of the fighting spirit. CONCLUSION: These finding showed that the more hopeful and believing patients with cancer had higher scores of fighting spirit, which was known to be one of the most active coping style in adjusting to cancer.