A meta-analytic review of religious or spiritual involvement and social health among cancer patients

Authors

Allen C. Sherman

Thomas V. Merluzzi

James E. Pustejovsky

Crystal L. Park

Logan George

George Fitchett

Heather S. Jim

Alexis R. Munoz

Suzanne C. Danhauer

Mallory A. Snyder

John A. Salsman

Published

August 10, 2015

Journal

Religion and spirituality (R/S) play an important role in the daily lives of many cancer patients. There has been great interest in determining whether R/S factors are related to clinically relevant health outcomes. In this meta-analytic review, the authors examined associations between dimensions of R/S and social health (eg, social roles and relationships). A systematic search of the PubMed, PsycINFO, Cochrane Library, and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature databases was conducted, and data were extracted by 4 pairs of investigators. Bivariate associations between specific R/S dimensions and social health outcomes were examined in a meta-analysis using a generalized estimating equation approach. In total, 78 independent samples encompassing 14,277 patients were included in the meta-analysis. Social health was significantly associated with overall R/S (Fisher z effect size = .20; P < .001) and with each of the R/S dimensions (affective R/S effect size = 0.31 [P < .001]; cognitive R/S effect size = .10 [P < .01]; behavioral R/S effect size = .08 [P < .05]; and ‘other’ R/S effect size = .13 [P < .001]). Within these dimensions, specific variables tied to socialhealth included spiritual well being, spiritual struggle, images of God, R/S beliefs, and composite R/S measures (all P values < .05). None of the demographic or clinical moderating variables examined were significant. Results suggest that several R/S dimensions are modestly associated with patients’ capacity to maintain satisfying social roles and relationships in the context of cancer. Further research is needed to examine the temporal nature of these associations and the mechanisms that underlie them.

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Citation

BibTeX citation:
@article{sherman2015,
  author = {Sherman, Allen C. and Merluzzi, Thomas V. and Pustejovsky,
    James E. and Park, Crystal L. and George, Logan and Fitchett, George
    and Jim, Heather S. and Munoz, Alexis R. and Danhauer, Suzanne C.
    and Snyder, Mallory A. and Salsman, John A.},
  title = {A Meta-Analytic Review of Religious or Spiritual Involvement
    and Social Health Among Cancer Patients},
  journal = {Cancer},
  volume = {121},
  number = {21},
  pages = {3779-3788},
  date = {2015-08-10},
  url = {http://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.29352},
  doi = {10.1016/j.jsp.2018.02.003},
  langid = {en}
}
For attribution, please cite this work as:
Sherman, A. C., Merluzzi, T. V., Pustejovsky, J. E., Park, C. L., George, L., Fitchett, G., Jim, H. S., Munoz, A. R., Danhauer, S. C., Snyder, M. A., & Salsman, J. A. (2015). A meta-analytic review of religious or spiritual involvement and social health among cancer patients. Cancer, 121(21), 3779–3788. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2018.02.003