The Relationship Between Spiritual Health and Hospital Anxiety and Depression in Patients With Gastrointestinal Cancer

Spiritual health is essential in human adaptation and relaxation, especially in chronic diseases. Cancer among human beings causes a physical and psychological crisis. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between spiritual health and anxiety and depression in patients with gastrointestinal cancer.

This research is a correlational cross-sectional study. The samples included 207 patients with gastrointestinal cancer. The study was conducted in Shahid Beheshti Educational and Medical Center in Qom City, Iran, in 2020. The research method was convenience sampling. A demographic questionnaire, Paloutzian, and Ellison spiritual health questionnaire, and hospital anxiety and depression questionnaire were used in this research. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square test, t-test, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) with SPSS software, v. 22.

The Mean±SD value of patients’ spiritual health was 94.47±12.56, and the Mean±SD value of their spiritual and existential health was 48.10±6.96 and 46.6±36.49, respectively. 53.62% of the samples had moderate spiritual health, 30.91% had high spiritual health, and 15.45% had low spiritual health. Also, 52.65% of the samples had moderate depression, 31.4% had mild depression, and 15.14% had severe depression. 54.58% had moderate anxiety, 28.98% had mild anxiety, and 16.42% had severe anxiety. The study results showed a correlation between spiritual health and anxiety and depression in patients with cancer (P<0.001).

The results showed that patients with good spiritual health consequently suffered less depression and anxiety. Therefore, spiritual health can reduce the stress and anxiety of patients with cancer and ultimately help patients recover.