The use of religious/spiritual coping among patients with cancer undergoing chemotherapy treatment

Objective: to investigate the use of religious/spiritual coping among people with cancer undergoing chemotherapy. Methods: a quantitative, descriptive and cross-sectional study of 101 patients undergoing intravenous chemotherapy in an oncology outpatients center in a public hospital in Minas Gerais, made in the first semester of 2011. For data collection, an interview was held, using a questionnaire for characterizing the sample and the Brief Spiritual/Religious Coping Scale. Results: all subjects made use of religious/spiritual coping (mean=3.67; sd=0.37); the younger individuals, those with no religion and those who consider spiritual support unimportant tend to use coping negatively; individuals who would like to receive spiritual support and who participate in support groups for cancer patients, on the other hand, use coping positively. Conclusions: the study reinforces that religious/spiritual coping is an important strategy for coping with cancer, and contributes to an understanding of the same as a useful tool for spiritual care.