Religious commitment of cancer patients after one year of chemotherapy: a cross-sectional study

Background Cancer patients during their disease face several treatments, one of them is chemotherapy. One of the coping strategies to overcome this process used by these patients is religious commitment. Religious commitment reduces stress, anxiety and pain related with treatments. The aim of this study is to assess religious commitment in cancer patients after one year of chemotherapy. Materials and methods This study is a quantitative, observational, correlational and cross-sectional, involving 274 outpatients with cancer in a hospital which were involved in the study through a random sample technique. Data were collected after one year of chemotherapy treatment and it was used a questionnaire which gathered sociodemographic characteristics, clinical conditions and the Belief into Action (BIAC) scale. Data analysis was performed through SPSS software. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the hospital. Results 274 participants were recruited (females n=167; males n=107), most were married (n=188) and had a religious afliation (n=262). Mean score of BIAC was 26.28 (SD=±11.96). It was possible to achieve statically signifcant diferences between males and females (U = 5383.000; p < 0.001) regarding religious commitment. In fact, females presented higher religious commitment (Mean Ranks= 158.77 than males (Mean Ranks= 104.31). However, this study did not achieve any statically differences between other sociodemographic and clinical condition variables and religious commitment. Conclusions After one chemotherapy treatment females’ cancer patients experience a higher religious commitment than males. Therefore, gender plays an important role regarding religious commitment, and as such it is necessary to pay special attention to men regarding the coping strategies they use in this health/disease process.