Open AccessSpiritual Needs among Patients with Chronic Pain Diseases and Cancer Living in a Secular Society
Author(s) -
Büssing Arndt,
Janko Annina,
Baumann Klaus,
Hvidt Niels Christian,
Kopf Andreas
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
pain medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.893
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1526-4637
pISSN - 1526-2375
DOI - 10.1111/pme.12198
Subject(s) - psychosocial , religiosity , generativity , coping (psychology) , medicine , spirituality , needs assessment , chronic pain , diener , psychology , psychiatry , clinical psychology , life satisfaction , alternative medicine , social psychology , social science , pathology , sociology
Objective Research has shown that several patients report unmet psychosocial and spiritual needs. While most studies focus on patients with advanced stages of disease, we intended to identify unmet spiritual needs in patients with chronic pain diseases and cancer living in a secular society. Methods In an anonymous cross‐sectional study, standardized questionnaires were provided to G erman patients with chronic pain diseases (and cancer), i.e., Spiritual Needs Questionnaire ( SpNQ ), Spirituality/Religiosity and Coping ( SpREUK ‐15), Spiritual Well‐being ( FACIT‐Sp ), B rief M ultidimensional L ife S atisfaction S cale, Interpretation of Illness Questionnaire, and Escape from Illness (Escape). Results We enrolled 392 patients (67% women, mean age 56.3 ± 13.6 years; 61% C hristian denomination) with chronic pain diseases (86%) and cancer (14%). R eligious N eeds (mean score 0.5 ± 0.8 on the scale) and E xistential N eeds (0.8 ± 0.8 on the scale) were low, while needs for I nner P eace (1.5 ± 0.9 on the scale) and G iving/ G enerativity were scored high (1.3 ± 1.0 on the scale). Regression analyses indicated that R eligious N eeds can be predicted best by (religious) “Trust,” the illness interpretation “call for help,” and living with a partner; E xistential N eeds can be predicted by “call for help” and to a weaker extent by (religious) “Trust.” E xistential N eeds are influenced negatively by the illness interpretation “challenge.” Needs for Inner Peace were predicted only in trend by the illness interpretation “threat,” and there were no significant predictors for the G iving/ G enerativity needs in the respective regression model. Conclusions Patients with chronic pain diseases predominantly report needs related to inner peace and generative relatedness on a personal level, whereas needs related to transcendent relatedness were of minor relevance. Nevertheless, even religious “skeptics” can express specific religious needs, and these should be recognized. Addressing patients' specific needs and also supporting them in their struggle with chronic illness remain a challenging task for the modern health care system.