Faith and Mental Health in an Oncology Population

This study compares faith attitudes versus behaviors for their relationship to mental health in current cancer patients and survivors. This cross-sectional survey of ambulatory patients included Hodge’s intrinsic religious motivation scale, Benson & Spilka’s concept of God scale, frequency of prayer, and the mental health subscale of the MOS SF-36. One hundred and fifty-eighty patients, mostly women with breast cancer, completed questionnaires (92% return). Mental health was positively related to a concept of a loving God (P < .001) and negatively related to the concept of a stern God (P < .002). Mental health was unrelated to goal of treatment (cure vs. chemotherapy/palliation), frequency of prayer, intrinsic faith motivation, or physical pain. Viewing God as loving was strongly related to better mental health, even in the presence of a poor prognosis or pain.