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A mixed‐methods approach to comparing perceptions of cancer patients' and cancer care providers' religious and spiritual beliefs, behaviours, and attitudes
Author(s) -
Palmer Kelly Elizabeth,
Hyer Madison,
Paredes Anghela Z,
Pawlik Timothy M.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
european journal of cancer care
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.849
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1365-2354
pISSN - 0961-5423
DOI - 10.1111/ecc.13390
Subject(s) - medicine , family medicine , cancer , perception , breast cancer , cohort , nursing , psychology , neuroscience
Objectives To compare the perceptions of cancer patients' and cancer care providers' religious and spiritual (R&S) beliefs, behaviours, and attitudes. Methods A concurrent, nested, quantitative dominant, mixed‐methods design was utilised. Data were collected from patient and provider groups via online survey. Analyses include chi‐square tests of independence and independent t‐tests for quantitative data and content analysis for qualitative data. Results The final analytic cohort for the study included 576 participants (n patients = 236, n providers = 340) with an average age of 47.4 years (SD = 15.0). Over half of participants were partnered (n = 386, 70.1%), female (n = 317, 57.3%) and had an advanced degree (n = 284, 51.2%). The most common diagnosis for patients was breast cancer (n = 103, 43.2%). The most common provider role was nurse (n = 220; 64.7%), while a smaller subset included physicians (n = 61; 17.9%) and “other” providers (n = 59; 17.4%). There was no difference between patients and providers in relation to R&S identity ( p = 0.49) or behaviour ( p = 0.28). Providers more frequently indicated that patients should receive R&S resources in the hospital (n = 281, 89.7% vs. n = 111, 49.6%, p < 0.001). For resource type, patients most frequently endorsed written resources (n = 93, 83.8%) while providers endorsed relational resources (n = 281, 97.9%). Conclusion Aligning patient and provider expectations of spiritual care will contribute to provision of optimal patient‐centred cancer care.