Abstract
This study was a secondary analysis of our parent study to examine the effects of the Short-term Life Review on spiritual well-being and psychological distress of terminally ill cancer patients and to identify factors associated with improvement of spiritual well-being. The subjects were 13 terminally ill cancer patients. The Short-term Life Review consisted of two sessions, and patients reviewed their lives with a psychologist. The patients completed the Functional Assessment Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-being Scale and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale before and after the therapy. Factors were extracted from the narrative from the therapy using a text-mining PC software. The mean Functional Assessment Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-being Scale score increased significantly from 15.92 +/- 8.4 to 22.70 +/- 8.1 after the intervention (Z= -2.3, P = .026), and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale scores decreased significantly from 15.92 +/- 6.37 to 11.23 +/- 5.21 (Z = -2.38, P = .017). Improved spiritual well-being was associated with factors including "good family memories," "feeling of attainments," and "integrative life review." The Short-term Life Review can be effective for improvement of spiritual well-being and psychological distress.