Lupa Kata Sandi? Klik di Sini

atau Masuk melalui

Belum Memiliki Akun Daftar di Sini


atau Daftar melalui

Sudah Memiliki Akun Masuk di Sini

Konfirmasi Email

Kami telah mengirimkan link aktivasi melalui email ke rudihamdani@gmail.com.

Klik link aktivasi dan dapatkan akses membaca 2 artikel gratis non Laput di koran dan Majalah Tempo

Jika Anda tidak menerima email,
Kirimkan Lagi Sekarang

Spirituality May be Tied to Easier Cancer Course

Translator

Editor

19 October 2018 14:06 WIB

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Cancer patients who report more religiousness or spirituality may also experience fewer physical symptoms of cancer and treatment and more social connection, several new papers suggest.

The new analyses reviewed previous studies of spirituality involving more than 44,000 cancer patients altogether. The studies varied in many ways, but religion and spirituality were associated with better health regardless of specific religion or set of spiritual beliefs.

Some previous research has found this connection while others have not, said Heather Jim of the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida, who led one of the new studies.

“Patients should not be pressured into adopting religious or spiritual beliefs,” Jim said. “Although our data suggest that patients with greater religion/spirituality tend to have better perceived physical health, these are aggregate-level data.”

“Patients who are not religious or spiritual can also experience good health outcomes,” she said.

These studies relied on patients to report on their health, so they did not address objective cancer outcomes, she told Reuters Health by email.

For the impact of spirituality on physical health, the studies included more than 32,000 adult cancer patients with a range of cancer types and stages. Higher religious or spirituality scores were generally associated with better overall health.

A sense of connection to a being larger than oneself was associated with better physical function and fewer, or less severe, symptoms of cancer or treatment, according to patient reports.

Intrinsic religious belief was also tied to better physical function.

Actual practice of religion, like church attendance, prayer, or meditation, was not related to physical health.

“Cancer patients who reported higher meaning, purpose, and spiritual connection in life also reported better physical health, as did patients who reported more positive religious or spiritual explanations for the cancer (versus a sense of fatalism or anger towards God),” Jim said.

Religious people may engage in more healthy behaviors, avoiding things like alcohol and drugs, and religious communities may provide social support, transportation to appointments, provision of meals and other basic needs, she said.

Spirituality may enhance positive emotion such as love, forgiveness, and comfort and reduce stress, she added.

“Conversely, spiritual distress is associated with greater depression and decreased adherence to medical recommendations among cancer patients,” Jim said. “However, we can’t say for sure that religion/spirituality causes better perceived health.”

Patients with cancer may question their religious and spiritual beliefs and those with worse health may also experience greater spiritual distress, she said.

In an analysis of studies with more than 14,000 cancer patients, the researchers found that religiousness and spirituality were associated with better social health, stronger roles and relationships in the community.

Spiritual well being, having a benevolent image of God, and holding religious beliefs were all associated with social health, regardless of demographics like age, race or gender, as reported in Cancer.

John M. Salsman, senior author on both the physical and social health analyses, stressed that religiousness and spirituality are multidimensional. He conducted the research while at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, but is now at Wake Forest School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Religious “beliefs” were linked to health outcomes, but often not as strongly as other concepts like daily spiritual experiences and spiritual well being, Salsman told Reuters Health by email.

Most religions involve group meetings and carry a social element, which might explain part of the link to social health, he said. But it is still not certain whether religiousness or spirituality causes symptom relief or better physical function during cancer treatment, he said.

“One plausible explanation is that when patients view God as a loving, benevolent being, that may provide a source of comfort and strength to the patient, allowing him or her to manage the distressing nature of their symptoms even if the frequency of symptoms did not change,” Salsman said.

“An alternate example from personality research is that people who are more likely to be religious are more agreeable in nature,” he said. “They would also be less likely to complain about their physical health, even in the midst of treatment for cancer.”

Cancer treatment specialists should keep in mind that patients who are experiencing spiritual distress may benefit from talking with a chaplain or a member of their religious or spiritual community, Jim said.

REUTERS




Artificial Intelligence in Medicine Must Heed Ethics, UI Researcher Says

11 hari lalu

Artificial Intelligence in Medicine Must Heed Ethics, UI Researcher Says

The utilization of artificial intelligence or AI in medicine must still heed ethical principles.


Sorong Health Office Finds 47 Malaria Cases in January-March

13 hari lalu

Sorong Health Office Finds 47 Malaria Cases in January-March

The Health Office in South Sorong, Southwest Papua, found 47 malaria cases from January to March 2024 based on detection results and data collection.


Indonesia Delivers 10mn Doses of Polio Vaccines to Afghanistan

21 hari lalu

Indonesia Delivers 10mn Doses of Polio Vaccines to Afghanistan

Afghanistan is one of the countries in the world that is categorized as a polio-endemic country.


KPU Confirms Death of Two KPPS Officers in Jakarta

41 hari lalu

KPU Confirms Death of Two KPPS Officers in Jakarta

KPU Jakarta confirmed the death of two election organizing group (KPPS) officers in North Jakarta and Central Jakarta.


Epidemiologist Says Presidential Debate Fails to Tackle Health Issues; Prabowo's Solution 'Inappropriate'

53 hari lalu

Epidemiologist Says Presidential Debate Fails to Tackle Health Issues; Prabowo's Solution 'Inappropriate'

Presidential candidates failed to get at the heart of health issues discussed during the presidential debate, the epidemiologist said.


Presidential Debate: Ganjar Pranowo Pledges to Build Health Facilities in Every Village in Indonesia

53 hari lalu

Presidential Debate: Ganjar Pranowo Pledges to Build Health Facilities in Every Village in Indonesia

Presidential candidate number 3 Ganjar Prabowo promised to build health facilities in every village in Indonesia during the 5th presidential debate


Mesh Bio Raises US$3.5mn of Series A Funding to Make Digital Twin Technologies Available at Scale

59 hari lalu

Mesh Bio Raises US$3.5mn of Series A Funding to Make Digital Twin Technologies Available at Scale

Mesh Bio's funding round led by East Ventures will enable the scaling of deployment around Southeast Asia.


Jokowi Reports 267 Million of Indonesians are BPJS Card Holders

24 Januari 2024

Jokowi Reports 267 Million of Indonesians are BPJS Card Holders

Jokowi claimed that no other country in the world with citizens as large as Indonesia has universal healthcare free of charge such as BPJS.


Cyber Attacks: Protecting People's Health Data an Urgent Priority

14 Januari 2024

Cyber Attacks: Protecting People's Health Data an Urgent Priority

As cyber attacks increase, healthcare providers risk a loss of patient trust if they cannot guarantee information security.


Grant Commitment in Indonesia's Health Sector Reaches Rp11.4 Trillion

19 Desember 2023

Grant Commitment in Indonesia's Health Sector Reaches Rp11.4 Trillion

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin reported that grant commitment in Indonesia's health sector is reaching Rp11.4 trillion (around US$735.65 million)