Spiritual well-being, religiosity, hope, depression, and other mood states in elderly people coping with cancer.
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.
Fehring
R J
RJ
Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI, USA.
Miller
J F
JF
Shaw
C
C
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