Abstract
Background: Holistic nursing care requires taking into consideration the spiritual and emotional dimensions of the patient.
Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the relationships among loneliness, death perception, and spiritual well-being in adult oncology patients.
Methods: This cross-sectional, descriptive-correlational study was conducted between March 20, 2018, and September 20, 2018. A total of 347 oncology inpatients participated in this study. Data were collected using the UCLA Loneliness Scale (UCLA-LS), the Personal Meanings of Death Scale, and the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-being Scale (FACIT-Sp).
Results: A significant negative relationship was found between UCLA-LS total scores and FACIT-Sp total scores (r = -0.217, P < .01). Positive significant relationships between FACIT-Sp total scores and the Afterlife (r = 0.425, P < .01), Motivation/Legacy (r = 0.468, P < .01), and Extinction (r = 0.337, P < .01) subdimension scores of the Personal Meanings of Death Scale were also found. Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-being Scale total scores were affected by age (B = -0.158), having graduated from a university (B = -7.859), living in the city center (B = -5.607), current diagnosis (B = -0.416), surgical treatment (B = -5.291), and receiving chemotherapy (B = 5.304). The UCLA-LS scores were unrelated to the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of the patients (P > .05).
Conclusion: Oncology patients experience moderate levels of loneliness, which decrease as their spiritual well-being levels increase. Patients with higher levels of spiritual well-being were found to attribute more positive meanings to death.
Implications for Practice: Spiritual well-being, loneliness, and death perception should be periodically evaluated in oncology patients, and appropriate nursing interventions should be planned.