The religiosity/spirituality of Latina breast cancer survivors and influence on health-related quality of life.
OBJECTIVE
The study evaluated the association of religiosity/spirituality (R/S) and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among Latina breast cancer survivors (BCS) in order to determine whether R/S would be positively correlated with HRQOL and whether R/S would significantly influence HRQOL.


METHODS
The cross-sectional study utilized self-report data from 117 Latina BCS survivors. R/S was measured with the Systems of Belief Inventory-15 Revised (SBI-15R) and HRQOL was measured with the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G). Analyses included calculation of descriptive statistics, t-tests, bivariate correlations, and multivariate analyses.


RESULTS
Latina BCS had very high levels of R/S and generally good HRQOL. The SBI-15R total score was positively correlated with FACT-G social well-being (SWB) (r=0.266, p=0.005), relationship with doctor (RWD) (r=0.219, p=0.020), and functional well-being (FWB) (r=0.216, p=0.022). Multivariate analyses revealed that SBI-15R was a significant predictor of FACT-G FWB (p=0.041) and satisfaction with the relationship with the doctor (p=0.050), where higher levels of R/S predicted higher levels of well-being.


CONCLUSIONS
Latina BCS had very high levels of R/S, which were significantly, positively correlated with dimensions of HRQOL (SWB, FWB, RWD). Furthermore, these high levels of R/S predicted better FWB and satisfaction with the patient-doctor relationship while controlling for potentially confounding variables. Implications are discussed.
Wildes
Kimberly A
KA
Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Institute for Health Promotion Research, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, TX 78230, USA.
Miller
Alexander R
AR
de Majors
Sandra San Miguel
SS
Ramirez
Amelie G
AG
D000069:Acculturation; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017058:Mexican Americans / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010555:Personality Inventory; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D012068:Religion and Medicine; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D012917:Social Adjustment; D029181:Spirituality; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology*