title: Spiritual well-being, religiosity, hope, depression, and other mood states in elderly people coping with cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the relationships among spiritual well-being, religiosity, hope, depression, and other mood states in elderly people coping with cancer and if differences in hope, depression, and other mood states exist between those elderly with high and low intrinsic religiosity and spiritual well-being.
  
  
  METHODS
  Descriptive correlational and descriptive comparison.
  
  
  METHODS
  Acute care units of two hospitals located in the midwestern United States.
  
  
  METHODS
  100 elderly people with diagnosis of cancer and a mean age of 73 years. Thirty-three of the subjects were male, and 67 were female. Sixty-two percent had either lung, breast, or colon cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Each subject was administered an intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity index, a spiritual well-being scale, a geriatric depression scale, the Miller hope scale, and the Profile of Mood States scale.
  
  
  METHODS
  Spiritual well-being, religiosity, hope, depression, and mood.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A consistent positive correlation was found among intrinsic religiosity, spiritual well-being, hope, and other positive mood states. A consistent negative correlation among intrinsic religiosity, depression, and other negative mood states existed. Analysis of variance indicated that significantly higher levels of hope and positive moods existed in elderly patients with high levels of intrinsic religiosity and spiritual well-being.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Intrinsic religiosity and spiritual well-being are associated with hope and positive mood states in elderly people coping with cancer.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Nurses must assess and support intrinsic religiosity and promote spiritual well-being in elderly people coping with cancer.
authors.affiliation: Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI, USA.
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Fehring
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Shaw
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000339:Affect; D000368:Aged / Q000523:psychology*; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015146:Midwestern United States; D009013:Morale; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D011582:Psychological Theory; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D012649:Self Concept