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Spirituality and People With Poetentially Fatal Diagnoses
Author(s) -
Fryback Patricia B.,
Reinert Bonita R.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
nursing forum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.618
H-Index - 36
eISSN - 1744-6198
pISSN - 0029-6473
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-6198.1999.tb00231.x
Subject(s) - spirituality , feeling , meaning (existential) , psychology , quality of life (healthcare) , qualitative research , meaning of life , clinical psychology , disease , psychotherapist , medicine , social psychology , alternative medicine , sociology , pathology , social science
When individuals must deal with potentially fatal diseases their lives change in many wasy. This qualitative study was designed to investigate this critical life event. The authors interviewed a convenience sample (N = 15) of 10 women with cancer and 5 men with HIV/AIDS. Findings suggest that spirituality is an essential component to feelings of health an well‐being. Many of the subjects viewed spirituality as a bridge between hopelessness and meaningfulness in life. Those who had found meaning in their disease thought they had a better quality of life now than they had before the diagnosis.