Psychospiritual well-being and symptom distress in women with breast cancer.

Abstract

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES: To examine the relationship between symptom distress and psychospiritual well-being in women with breast cancer. DESIGN: Descriptive, cross-sectional, correlational study. SETTING: Secondary analysis of data collected in 2000 from the Breast Cancer Support Web site at http://pages.prodigy.net/replyasap/bc. SAMPLE: 100 women were invited to participate in the study after posting an entry in the Web site guest book. Most had stage I or II breast cancer, were nearly 46 years old, and were 10.25 months postdiagnosis. METHODS: Mailed questionnaires. Women were required to meet the following inclusion criteria: a confirmed breast cancer diagnosis, first cancer experience, fewer than two years postsurgery for breast cancer, 18 years of age or older, and the ability to read and write in English. Symptom distress was measured using the Symptom Distress Scale. Psychospiritual well-being was measured by combining scores from the psychological subscale of the breast-cancer specific version of the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy Scale and the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy (Spiritual) Measurement System 12 for a composite score. MAIN RESEARCH VARIABLES: Symptom distress, psychospiritual well-being. FINDINGS: Symptom distress and psychospiritual well-being were inversely related. No relationship was found between age and symptom distress; however, age was inversely related to psychospiritual well-being. Age and symptom distress accounted for 23.1% of the variance in psychospiritual well-being. CONCLUSIONS: Participants experienced a small amount of symptom distress, which was inversely related to psychospiritual well-being. Although their symptom distress was similar to other studies, patients in this study reported lower psychospiritual well-being than participants in other studies. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING: Psychospiritual well-being is an important concept for nurses seeking a holistic approach to practice because it connects the mind and spirit with the body.

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