Comparison of the Role of Religious Beliefs in Hopefulness and Quality of Life among Cancer and Non-cancer Patients

Background and Belief in God and hope play an important role in the lives of all the members of the society, particularly in the lives of the patients. Regardig this, the aim of the present study was to compare the role of religious beliefs in hopefulness and quality of life among the cancer and non-cancer patients in Shiraz, Iran in 2011.
This case-control comparative study was conducted on 60 patients referring to the Namazi Hospital in Shiraz. Therefore, the study population corresponded to two groups of 30 (i.e., 15 males and 15 females in each gorup) cancer and non-cancer patients referring to the Chemotherapy Unit and other units, respectively, through simple random sampling method. The data were collected using the religious beliefs (2006), hopefulness (1991), and brief quality of life questionnaires (1996). The data analysis was performed using the descriptive and inferential statistics (independent t-test) through the SPSS.
According to the results of the study, there were statistically significant differences between the cancer and non-cancer patients in terms of the religious beliefs, hopefulness, and quality of life.
As the findigns of the present study indicated, the religious beliefs could improve the mental condition of the cancer patients resulting in increased life expectancy and quality of life in these patients.