title: Associations among patient characteristics, health-related quality of life, and spiritual well-being among Arab Muslim cancer patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Despite Islam being the world's second largest religion and despite the fact that there are 22 Arabic-speaking nations representing North Africa and the Middle East, little is known about the relationship between spiritual well-being and health-related quality of life (HrQoL) for Arabic-speaking Muslims in treatment for cancer.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The study's aim was to determine whether spiritual well-being is correlated with HrQoL and whether participants' age, sex, marital status, site of cancer, and stage of disease are related to spiritual well-being.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using a cross-sectional design, a total of 159 Arabic-speaking, study-eligible cancer patients who were in treatment at the King Hussein Cancer Center (KHCC), Amman, Jordan, completed three questionnaires: a demographic questionnaire; the Functional Assessment in Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G), which assesses the physical, social, functional, and emotional domains of HrQoL; and the Functional Assessment in Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-being (FACIT-Sp).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Physical well-being was negatively correlated with the FACIT-Sp for men, divorced, and stage IV disease. Social Well-being was positively correlated with the FACIT-Sp for ages 18-34 and 35-49 years; both sexes; married, never married, and divorced; breast, bone/sarcoma, and gastrointestinal cancers; and stages II-IV. Emotional Well-being was negatively correlated with the FACIT-Sp for ages 35-49; males; never married; and stages III and IV. Functional Well-being was positively correlated with the FACIT-Sp for ages 35-49 and 50-64; both sexes; married or never married; and stages II and III. Age and cancer site showed a positive relationship with spiritual well-being.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The FACIT-Sp distinguishes between domains of HrQoL and patient characteristics. Further study on the unique contribution of the FACIT-Sp's Peace and Meaning subscales to HrQoL is needed.
authors.affiliation: Schools of Nursing and Divinity and Council on Middle East Studies, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06536, USA. Mark.lazenby@yale.edu
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lazenby
authors.forename: Jamal
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Khatib
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D018912:Arabs; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007514:Islam; D007597:Jordan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology*; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011788:Quality of Life; D017678:Sex Distribution; D029181:Spirituality; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult