Religious-spiritual coping in family caregivers of Brazilian children and adolescents with cancer

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to understand how family caregivers of Brazilian children and adolescents with cancer experience and use religious-spiritual coping. This is a qualitative study carried out with 23 participants (being 21 women and two men; age average of 35,9 years old). Semi-structured interviews were virtually conducted, recorded, fully transcribed, organized and analyzed using a thematic-reflective analysis. The results found to allow us to indicate that positive and negative religious-spiritual coping affects the quality of life, physical and emotional health of family members, reverberating in the way they deal with and understand cancer in children and adolescents. The data found demonstrate that paediatric oncology health services and professionals should consider religious-spiritual coping and be prepared to meet the demands of this nature that may arise.

KEYWORDS:

• Childhood cancer
• parenting
• caregivers
• spirituality
• religion

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The first author has received research grants from Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES): [Grant Number ], organization linked to the Ministry of Education of Brazil. The fourth author has financial support from the Nacional Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPQ): [Grant Number ], organization linked to the Ministry of Education of Brazil.