Characterization of the Spiritual Needs of Hospitalized Patients with Cancer from a Facility in Cochabamba, Bolivia

Abstract

Introduction: Among comprehensive nursing care provided to patients with cancer, attention to the risk for spiritual suffering has not yet been considered a priori. There is insufficient knowledge about the influence of spiritual satisfaction on coping better with the disease and quality of life.

Objective: To characterize the spiritual needs of patients with cancer.

Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional and quantitative study was carried out in the first semester of 2021, with a population of 20 patients diagnosed with cancer and from the oncology service at Hospital Obrero n.° 2 from Cochabamba, Bolivia. To obtain the data, an orientation questionnaire on intrapersonal, interpersonal and transpersonal needs, which assesses spiritual needs, was applied. For the comprehensive analysis of the obtained data, descriptive statistics were applied, such as absolute and percentage frequencies using the statistical program IBM SPSS (version 24.0).

Results: The sociodemographic characterization of the population showed that the mean age was 57.5 years. 60 % were in the age range of 55 and over. Of the three studied dimensions, the spiritual need most expressed by patients was that of organizing their matters (65 %).

Conclusions: In the intrapersonal dimension, the most expressed unmet spiritual need was the sense of living. In the interpersonal dimension, forgiveness and organizing their matters were the most unmet. In the transpersonal dimension, patients expressed high satisfaction in all aspects.