Objectives: This study was conducted to examine the relationship between cancer patients' spiritual needs and their quality of life and depression levels.
Methods: This cross-sectional, exploratory study was conducted between March 2023 and November 2024. The study population consisted of cancer patients hospitalized in medical oncology departments at a university hospital in eastern Turkey. The sample consisted of 250 patients, determined by power analysis. To collect data, the "Demographic Information Form," "Spiritual Needs Assessment Scale," "EORTC QLQ-C30 Version 3.0 Quality of Life Scale," and "Beck Depression Scale" were used to evaluate the patients' sociodemographic characteristics and disease process.
Results: There was a weak, negative, statistically significant relationship between patients' spiritual needs and the subdimensions of the quality of life scale, specifically the general perceived health status (r = -0.297, p < 0.001), physical (r = -0.446, p < 0.001), role (r = -0.423, p < 0.001), emotional (r = -0.472, p < 0.001), cognitive (r = -0.458, p < 0.001) and social (r = -0.443, p < 0.001) functions, and finally, a weak positive correlation was found between the symptoms experienced (r = 0.376, p < 0.001) and depression levels. Additionally, a weak positive correlation between spiritual needs and depression level (r = 0.374, p < 0.001) was identified. Functional areas, depression, education level, diagnosis duration, and symptoms were identified as variables predicting spiritual needs.
Significance of results: In conclusion, it was determined that as the spiritual needs of cancer patients increased, their quality of life decreased and the severity of depression increased.
Keywords: Depression; cancer; patient; quality of life; spiritual needs.