Hope and Religious Beliefs in Iranian Cancer Patients

Despite considerable advances in medical science, cancer remains to be as one of the most important diseases. Psychological problems of cancer patients affect on the quality of life, suicide rate, long confinement and even their life lengths. As well as the goal of this study was assess the relation between hope and religious beliefs in the cancer patients who refer to chemotherapy center. This study is a descriptive and analytic study in which 220 cancer patients who referred to the chemotherapy and radiotherapy center, through accessible random sampling method were tested. For gathering the data we use demographic particulars questionnaire, Allport religious beliefs questionnaire and the Hope Herth questionnaire. Findings showed that, 78 patients (35.5%) of the total 220 studied patients were in an age group of 51-60 and 14 (6.4%) were 41-50. As for the goal of the research, i.e., determining the relation of religious beliefs and patients' hope, the results of Man-Whitney U test indicated a significant relation, p<0.002. Considering the results of this study as well as other conducted studies, it seems that addressing the effective factors can result in improvement of the relevant nursing cares and will allow the families and nurses to concentrate on important and significant aspects such as religious beliefs. [Sheikholeslami F, Norozi Nia R, Tavakholi Vardanjani AA, Rabiei L, Esmaeili Vardanjani SA, Salehzade Ah, Asghari E. Hope and Religious Beliefs in Iranian Cancer Patients, Life Sci J 2012;9(2):1300-1303] (ISSN: 1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite.com. 192