A pilot study to examine the relationship between boredom and spirituality in cancer patients

Spirituality has been neglected when assessing the well-being of cancer patients. Traditionally, researchers have focused on areas such as physical, social, and emotional functioning. However, there is a potential for spirituality to have a large impact on quality of life in patients with cancer. The current study was conducted to investigate the relationship between spirituality and boredom, constraint, social contact, and depression.

A total of 100 oncology patients completed several assessment instruments, including the Purposelessness, Under-stimulation, and Boredom (PUB) Scale, Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy Scale-Anemia, Brief Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (BZSDS), Cancer Behavior Inventory, Systems of Belief Inventory, and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status Scale.

The average age of the sample was 62.37 years (SD = 13.43) and was comprised of 60 women (60%) and 40 men (40%). A regression analysis conducted to explore the impact of the variables on quality of life found only the BZSDS (R2 delta = .650, F = 180.392, p < .001) and the PUB Scale (R2 delta = .077, F = 26.885, p < .001) were significant predictors of quality of life. Another set of regression analyses were conducted to explore whether spirituality had a mediating effect on this relationship, but the mediated model was not supported.

We conclude that spirituality and boredom are difficult concepts to define, operationalize, and measure, but crucial to our understanding of quality of life in advanced cancer. More research is needed to clarify the nature of the interrelationships between these important concepts.