title: Re-examining the Contributions of Faith, Meaning, and Peace to Quality of Life: a Report from the American Cancer Society's Studies of Cancer Survivors-II (SCS-II).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Prior research on spirituality in cancer survivors has often failed to distinguish the specific contributions of faith, meaning, and peace, dimensions of spiritual well-being, to quality of life (QoL), and has misinterpreted mediation analyses with these indices.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We hypothesized a model in which faith would have a significant indirect effect on survivors' functional QoL, mediated through meaning and/or peace.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were from the American Cancer Society's Study of Cancer Survivors-II (N = 8405). Mediation analyses were conducted with the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-being Scale (FACIT-Sp) predicting the mental component summary (i.e., mental functioning) as well as the physical component summary (i.e., physical functioning) of the SF-36.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The indirect effect of faith through meaning on mental functioning, 0.4303 (95 % CI, 0.3988, 0.4649), and the indirect effect of faith through meaning and peace on physical functioning, 0.1769 (95 % CI, 0.1505, 0.2045), were significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study findings suggest that faith makes a significant contribution to cancer survivors' functional QoL. Should future longitudinal research replicate these findings, investigators may need to reconsider the role of faith in oncology QoL studies.
authors.affiliation: Rosemead School of Psychology, Biola University, La Mirada, CA, USA. andrea.canada@biola.edu.
authors.forename: Andrea L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Canada
authors.affiliation: Religion, Health, and Human Values, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Patricia E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.affiliation: Religion, Health, and Human Values, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fitchett
authors.affiliation: Behavioral Research Center, American Cancer Society, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Stein
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000570:American Cancer Society; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D029181:Spirituality; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology*; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Cancer survivors; Faith; Meaning; Peace; Quality of life