The Role of Spiritual Well-Being and Religious Coping in Psychiatric Morbidities Associated with Breast Cancer Patients: A Cross-Sectional Analysis

Background: Spirituality and religious resources support and enhance both overall and emotional well-being during adversity such as diagnosis of breast cancer. Breast cancer patients are at higher risk of developing severe anxiety, depression, and potential mood disorders. Aim: The aim is to assess, compare, and correlate spiritual well-being and religious coping in patients with breast cancer with and without psychiatric disorders (anxiety and depression). Materials and Methodology: Recently diagnosed 90 treatment-naive breast cancer patients were selected in adherence to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Spiritual Assessment Scale, and Brief Religious Coping Scale were applied to the sample population. The study population was divided into two groups depending on scores of HADS, those having psychiatric disorders, and those who did not have. The data were analyzed using Mann.Whitney test and Pearson's correlation coefficient in the SPSS version 21. Results: More than half (61.1%) of the females suffered from psychiatric disorders after diagnosis of breast cancer. About 50% and 38.9% of the study population developed significant emotional distress, leading to the diagnosis of cases of anxiety and depression, respectively. Females suffering from psychiatric disorders have significantly lower spirituality, positive religious coping, and significantly higher negative religious coping than females without any psychiatric disorder. Total spirituality score (P = 0.034) is making a significant contribution toward predicting depression. Negative religious coping is making a significant contribution toward predicting both anxiety (P = 0.008) and depression (P = 0.045). Conclusion: The study suggests that spirituality and religion-based coping facilitates adaptive psychological adjustment to cancer and decreases the prevalence of anxiety and depression.