Anoushirvani Ali Arash, Tabaeian Seidamir Pasha, Maarefi Minoo, Shabestari Samira Basir
Department of Hematology and Oncology, School of Medicine, Firoozgar Clinical Research Development Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Department of Internal Medicine, Colorectal Research Center, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Med J Islam Repub Iran. 2024 Jul 24;38:85. doi: 10.47176/mjiri.38.85. eCollection 2024.
Both coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) and cancer place a heavy burden on the society and mental health of patients. Spiritual health may play a prominent role in coping with stressful conditions. Considering the existing controversy regarding the correlation between spiritual health and stress related to the COVID-19 pandemic in cancer patients, this study aimed to assess the correlation between spiritual health and COVID-19 stress in cancer patients.
This cross-sectional study was conducted on cancer patients presenting to Rasoul and Firouzgar Hospitals, affiliated with Iran University of Medical Sciences, in 2022. After obtaining written informed consent, eligible patients filled out the spiritual health questionnaire and COVID Stress Scale (CSS). Data were analyzed by the Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients and one-way ANOVA.
The mean (SD) levels of COVID-19 stress and spiritual health were equal to 106.5 (44.5) and 26.2 (10.9), respectively, which are regarded as moderate levels. An inverse correlation of -0.48 was found between spiritual health and COVID-19 stress ( < 0.001). Spiritual health decreased by an increase in the stage of cancer ( < 0.001). The mean COVID-19 total stress score and its domain scores [except for the post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) domain] were significantly higher in patients with poor spiritual health compared with those with good spiritual health. However, the difference in this regard was not significant between patients with poor and moderate spiritual health ( > 0.05).
This study confirmed the prominent role of spiritual health in the reduction of COVID-19 stress. Promotion of spiritual health in cancer patients should be considered as an inseparable part of patient care to prevent disease aggravation and decrease the stress level of cancer patients, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
2019年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）和癌症都给社会及患者的心理健康带来了沉重负担。精神健康可能在应对压力状况方面发挥重要作用。鉴于目前对于癌症患者精神健康与COVID-19大流行相关压力之间的相关性存在争议，本研究旨在评估癌症患者精神健康与COVID-19压力之间的相关性。
本横断面研究于2022年对就诊于伊朗医科大学附属拉苏尔和菲鲁兹加尔医院的癌症患者进行。在获得书面知情同意后，符合条件的患者填写了精神健康问卷和COVID压力量表（CSS）。数据采用Pearson和Spearman相关系数以及单因素方差分析进行分析。
COVID-19压力和精神健康的平均（标准差）水平分别为106.5（44.5）和26.2（10.9），均被视为中等水平。精神健康与COVID-19压力之间存在-0.48的负相关（<0.001）。精神健康随着癌症分期的增加而下降（<0.001）。与精神健康良好的患者相比，精神健康较差的患者的COVID-19总压力得分及其各领域得分[除创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）领域外]显著更高。然而，精神健康较差和中等的患者在这方面的差异不显著（>0.05）。
本研究证实了精神健康在减轻COVID-19压力方面的重要作用。应将促进癌症患者的精神健康视为患者护理中不可或缺的一部分，以防止疾病恶化并降低癌症患者的压力水平，尤其是在COVID-19大流行期间。
