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Spirituality and quality of life in low‐income men with metastatic prostate cancer
Author(s) -
Zavala Mary Wassel,
Maliski Sally L.,
Kwan Lorna,
Fink Arlene,
Litwin Mark S.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
psycho‐oncology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.41
H-Index - 137
eISSN - 1099-1611
pISSN - 1057-9249
DOI - 10.1002/pon.1460
Subject(s) - spirituality , psychosocial , quality of life (healthcare) , meaning (existential) , medicine , gerontology , prostate cancer , clinical psychology , faith , disease , cancer , psychology , psychotherapist , psychiatry , alternative medicine , theology , nursing , pathology , philosophy
Objective : To determine how spirituality is associated with health‐related quality of life (HRQOL) in an ethnically diverse cohort of low‐income men with metastatic prostate cancer. Methods : Eighty‐six participants in a state‐funded program that provides free prostate cancer treatment to uninsured, low‐income men completed written surveys and telephone interviews containing validated measures of spirituality, and general and disease‐specific HRQOL. Assessments were made following diagnosis of metastatic disease. We used multivariate analyses to assess the effect of spirituality and its two subscales, faith and meaning/peace, on HRQOL. Results : African American and Latino men, and men with less than a high‐school education had the highest spirituality scores. Spirituality was significantly associated with general and disease‐specific HRQOL. We also found a significant interaction between faith and meaning/peace in the physical and pain domains. Conclusion : Greater spirituality was associated with better HRQOL and psychosocial function. Meaning/peace closely tracks with HRQOL. Higher faith scores, in the absence of high meaning/peace scores, are negatively associated with HRQOL. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.