The influence of oncologist's spirituality and religiosity in their medical care

The impact of spirituality and religiosity on health is an increasingly discussed topic in literature, although the World Health Organization has already included the spiritual dimension as being important since 1998. However, there is some confusion between the definition of spirituality and religiosity [1,2]. Spirituality is defined as the human being's search about his or her purpose in life, which can be found in religion, in relationships with other people, in nature, in art, in his or her own thoughts, and in relationships with some divine figure or transcendence. In other words, spirituality is the belief that provides the individual a purpose in life [3]. It contains all the possible needs that an individual requires, which provides perspectives that will guide a person's priorities, and may or may not have an associated religious belief. Therefore, spirituality is present in the daily lives of many individuals because it is an important source of emotional support, helping people to deal with their difficulties and, consequently, influencing their mental and physical health [4]. Thus, when a person faces some types of illness, spiritual beliefs will be a support for that person to deal with suffering and difficulties. Therefore, doctors, even though they may not believe in the patient's beliefs, should respect and support the patient in order to help in treatment and contribute to the patient's coping with the disease. For these reasons, the health of the human being is not only determined as physical and mental, but also spiritual [5]. Religiosity, in turn, involves the systematization of a cult and doctrine shared by a group. Although it can be a positive tool for coping with problems, religiosity can also bring some negative aspects face to this illness. It is because there are some risks that religion can bring during this period, such as, for example, patients associating the disease with some guilt and this can bring suffering; there may be some religious guidelines that may interfere in the patient's therapeutic process, or the physician may also approach the patient about his own religious beliefs, and, consequently, affect their relationship (both of them) [6]. Even knowing the importance of the theme, there are several barriers that make it difficult for physicians to approach spirituality with the patient. One of them is that they don't know the right time and the right way to talk about it with the patients, because they have a certain difficulty in dealing with the subject due to the lack of knowledge. In addition, there are doctors who are afraid that the subject won't please the patient, and others think that it's not their job to talk about it or that it wouldn't have a positive impact on the individual's treatment. As soon as physicians begin to study the subject and increase their knowledge about it, these difficulties are overcome and, consequently, they begin to approach spirituality more naturally, bringing benefits to the doctor-patient relationship [7]. International research on the relationship between religiosity/spirituality and health has been increasing in recent years, and some universities around the world are adding this content to the doctor's curriculum. However, most physicians do not study this subject during graduation and more in-depth studies on how to apply this subject in the discipline [8]. Regarding the spirituality/religiosity of a healthcare professional, especially the oncologist, who works in sectors where there is a lot of pain and suffering, this has a positive impact and will help him to deal with these difficult moments and maintain his mental health. Therefore, it is important that the health professional knows how to look at the patient as a unique being and be able to integrate all the necessary dimensions of assistance, D O I: 1 0 . 5 4 4 4 8 / m d n t2 1 6 2 1