Intrinsic religiousness and well-being among cancer patients: the mediating role of control-related religious coping and self-efficacy for coping with cancer
Open accessAbstract
We examined the relationship between intrinsic religiousness and well-being, with control-related religious coping and self-efficacy for coping with cancer as potential mediators of this relationship among cancer patients. In a cross-sectional design, 179 ambulatory cancer patients completed measures of intrinsic religiousness, religious coping, self-efficacy for coping with cancer, well-being, and demographic variables. Type of cancer, stage of cancer, and time since diagnosis were collected from electronic medical charts. In a path model, the positive association between intrinsic religiousness and three types of well-being--physical, functional, and social-was fully mediated by active religious surrender and self-efficacy for coping with cancer. In addition, the negative association between passive religious deferral and all four types of well-being--physical, functional, social, and emotional--was fully mediated by self-efficacy for coping with cancer. Finally, there was a negative direct association between pleading for God's direct intercession and emotional well-being. These findings suggest pathways by which intrinsic religiousness and control-related religious coping are linked to various dimensions of well-being among cancer patients.
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NRC is consistently associated with greater psychological distress, including higher levels of depression and lower levels of life satisfaction and quality of life, higher levels of anxiety and poorer physical health, and worse mental health and adjustment to illness.
“Though endorsed at far lower rates than PRC, NRC is consistently associated with greater psychological distress, including higher levels of depression and lower levels of life satisfaction and quality of life (Hebert et al., 2009), higher levels of anxiety and poorer physical health (Sherman et al., 2009), and worse mental health (Pérez & Smith, 2015) and adjustment to illness (Exline et al., 2011”
From Advancing our understanding of religion and spirituality in the context of behavioral medicine (2017) · cites this paper as Pérez & Smith, 2015
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- Authors
- Pérez, J. E., & Rex Smith, A.
- Affiliations
- University of San Francisco (US)
- Corresponding author
- Pérez, John E.
- Venue
- Journal of Behavioral Medicine
- Published
- 2014-08-29
- Volume
- 38
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 183-193
- ISSN
- 0160-7715 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-3521
- PMC
- PMC6165843
- OpenAlex
- W2007512115
- Cited by
- 36
- References
- 52
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 2 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 3
- FWCI
- 3.41
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- europepmc.org
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Journal of Behavioral Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Cancer Institute (U56CA118635)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer survivorship and care
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Optimism, Hope, and Well-being
- Keywords
- intrinsic religiosity, cancer patients, well-being, mediation, emotional well-being, physical well-being, social well-being, functional well-being
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Psychological, Cross-Sectional Studies, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Models, Psychological, Neoplasms, Religion and Psychology, Self Efficacy
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