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.

Purpose: 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.

Discussion: 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.

Keywords: Cancer survivors; Faith; Meaning; Peace; Quality of life.