Spiritual Experience and Associated Factors Among Gynecological Cancer Patients in Turkey: A Cross-Sectional Study

This study aimed to examine the level of spiritual experience and the impact of socio-demographic and clinical features, anxiety and depression, and spiritual well-being on the spiritual experiences of hospitalized patients with gynecological cancer. This cross-sectional study was conducted with 192 patients in a university-affiliated hospital in the west of Turkey. The participants completed self-assessment tools, including the Daily Spiritual Experience Scale, the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy--Spiritual Well-Being Scale, and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. According to the results of the hierarchical linear regression analysis, the statistically significant factors affecting spiritual experience among patients with gynecologic cancer were age (β = -.219), anxiety (β = .208), depression (β = .172), and faith (β = -.312). Meaning and peace subdimensions of spiritual well-being were not found to be a significant predictor of spiritual experience. This indicates that when the subdimensions contaminating the construct of spiritual well-being are removed, the faith subdimension predicts spiritual experience more strongly. Gynecological cancer patients may have spiritual issues, so health professionals should provide spiritual support.