Spiritually-focused psychotherapy for people diagnosed with cancer: A pilot outcome study

Abstract

This study compared the efficacy of spiritually-focused therapy (SFT) (n = 9) for people diagnosed with cancer to a no-treatment control condition (NTC) (n = 7). Physical well-being (symptoms, treatment side effects, pain frequency and severity, and physical functioning) and psychological well-being (depression and anxiety) were assessed at pre-treatment, post-treatment, and two-month follow-up. Spiritual and religious coping were assessed at baseline. At baseline, surrendering control to God and positive religious coping were associated with less depression and pain severity. Positive religious coping was also associated with less anxiety and greater physical well-being. Negative religious coping was correlated with greater depression, anxiety, pain frequency and severity, and poorer overall physical well-being. In terms of the intervention, both depression and pain severity remained relatively stable across time for the SFT group but increased for the NTC condition.