Study on Spiritual Well-being and Family Support of Cancer Patients

암 환자가 지각한 가족 지지와 영적 안녕에 관한 조사 연구

This study was designed to provide the basic data of nursing intervention for alleviation of effective adjustment of cancer patients by identifying the correlation between the spiritual well-being and family support. The subjects for this study were 69 patients who were diagnosed as cancer and were admitted to a university hospital in Pusan. Data were collected during the period between December 1, 1998 and January 20, 1999 by interviewing with questionnaires. Family support questionnaire consisted of 11 questions answerable on a 5 point Likert scale developed by Kang Hyun Suk(1985). Spiritual well-being questionnaire consisted of 20 questions answerable on a 4 point Likert scale modified by Kang Jeong Ho(1996). The data were analyzed by in descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficient, t-test and ANOVA using SPSS/WIN program. The results of this study were as follows. 1. The mean score for family support in cancer patients was 49.48, which indicated that cancer patients perceived their state of family support as high level. The mean score for spiritual well-being in cancer patients was 55.87, which indicated that cancer patients perceived their state of spiritual well-being as moderate level. Among the components of spiritual well-being, the mean score for religious well-being was 26.94 and for existential well-being 28.93. From the above, the mean score for existential well-being was higher than that of religious well-being. 2. There were statistically significant differences in family support according to the types of primary caregivers(F=3.48, p=0.008). The spouse caregiver showed the highest family support among the caregivers. There were statistically significant differences in spiritual well-being according to the job(F=2.20, p=0.046) and the level of perceived health status(F=2.71, p=0.05). There were statistically significant differences in religious well-being according to the religion(F=2.42, p=0.004) and the number of family members(F=3.38, p=0.040). And there were statistically significant differences in existential well-being according to the job(F=2.48, p=0.026) and the level of perceived health status(F=2.74, p=0.048). 3. There were positive correlation between spiritual well-being and the family support(r=0.481, p=0.000), between religious well-being and family support(r=0.336, p=0.008) and existential well-being and family support(r=0.519, p=0.000).