The importance of religiosity/spirituality in the perspective of cancer patients

to describe the importance of religiousness/spirituality through the health disease process in the perception of patients in cancer treatment.  a descriptive, cross sectional study with a quantitative approach, performed with 234 patients in cancer treatment in a Reference Center, from April to November 2014. It was used as a tool for data collection a questionnaire with 20 items, encompassing socioeconomic variables, Duke DUREL index, spiritual history of ACP and CSI MEMO. Descriptive statistics was performed.  in the sample, 76.50% were female, 58.5% Catholics and 42.74% had breast cancer. It was found that the faith is extremely important for 82.91% Concerning religion, 33.76% attended a religious meeting more than once a week and 47.86% devoted their time to individual religious activities.  the data show that religiosity/spirituality has high levels of importance in addressing the health disease process for these patients.  Spirituality; Religion; Oncology.  descrever a importancia da religiosidade/espiritualidade no processo saude doenca sob a percepcao de pacientes em tratamento oncologico. Metodo: estudo descritivo, transversal, de abordagem quantitativa, realizado com 234 pacientes oncologicos em tratamento num Centro de Referencia, de abril a novembro de 2014. Utilizou se como instrumento para a coleta de dados um questionario com 20 itens, englobando variaveis socioeconomicas, Indice de Duke DUREL, Historia espiritual da ACP e CSI MEMO. Realizada estatistica descritiva. Resultados: na amostra 76,50% eram do sexo feminino, 58,5% catolicos e 42,74% tinham neoplasia de mama. Encontrou se que a fe e extremamente importante para 82,91% Em relacao a religiosidade, 33,76% frequentavam algum encontro religioso mais de uma vez por semana e 47,86% dedicavam seu tempo a atividades religiosas individuais. Conclusao: os dados revelam que a religiosidade/espiritualidade possui altos niveis de importancia no enfrentamento do processo saude doenca para esses pacientes.  Espiritualidade; Religiao; Oncologia. RESUMEN Objetivo: describir la importancia de la religiosidad/espiritualidad en la salud enfermedad en la percepcion de los pacientes en tratamiento contra el cancer. Metodo: estudio descriptivo, transversal, con un enfoque cuantitativo, realizado con 234 pacientes en tratamiento contra el cancer en un Centro de Referencia, de abril a noviembre de 2014. Fue utilizado como una herramienta para la recoleccion de datos un cuestionario con 20 items, que abarca las variables socioeconomicas, indice de Duke DUREL, historia espiritual de la ACP y CSI MEMO. Estadistica descriptiva fue realizada. Resultados: en la muestra, 76,50% eran mujeres, el 58,5% de catolicos y 42.74% tienen cancer de mama. Se encontro que la fe es extremadamente importante para 82,91% En cuanto a la religion, 33.76% asistio a una reunion religiosa mas de una vez a la semana y 47,86% dedica su tiempo a actividades religiosas individuales.  los datos muestran que la religiosidad/espiritualidad tiene altos niveles de importancia para abordar el proceso de salud enfermedad en estos pacientes.  Espiritualidad; Religion; Oncologia. MD, PhD Professor of Health Sciences, Federal University of Alagoas/FAMED/UFAL. Maceio (AL) Brazil.  Federal University of Alagoas/FAMED/ UFAL. Maceio (AL) Brazil.  PhD in Health Sciences, Federal University of Alagoas/FAMED/UFAL. Maceio (AL) Brazil.  Graduation students in Medicine, Federal University of Alagoas/UFAL. Maceio (AL) Brazil. email:boliveira19@gmail.com; tainadurans@hotmail.com ORIGINAL ARTICLE Correia DS, Cavalcanti SL, Freitas DA et al. The importance of religiosity/spirituality.  1 RV1008201615 It is indisputable that cancer is now a public health problem. According to global estimates from Project Globocan 2012, by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, World Health Organization (WHO) the worldwide incidence in 2012 was 14.1 million and there were a total of 8.2 million deaths per cancer that same year. In 2030, it is estimated that the global burden will be 21.4 million new cases and 13.2 million cancer deaths, as a result of growth and population aging, and the reduction in infant mortality and deaths infectious diseases in developing countries. For Brazil, the estimate for 2015 is approximately 576.000 new cases including non melanoma skin cancer, the most frequent in the population. Excluding the latter, it is estimated 395.000 new cases, 204.000 for men and 190.000 for women. In men, the most incident types are prostate cancers, lung, colon and rectum, stomach and oral cavity; and, in women, breast, colon and rectum, cervix, lung and thyroid gland. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) spirituality is the set of all the emotions and beliefs of non material nature, with the assumption that there is more to life than can be seen or fully understood. Since 1988, WHO included the spiritual dimension in the multidimensional concept of health, referring to issues such as meaning of life, not limited to any specific type of belief or religious practice. The concepts of spirituality and religiosity are confused. It is necessary to describe the definitions of religion, religiosity and spirituality accepted for this work, based on the concept by Harold G. Koenig et al, as follows: (1) religion is a system of beliefs and practices observed by a community, supported by rituals that acknowledge, worship, communicate with or approach the Sacred, the Divine, God (in Western cultures) or the Absolute Truth, Reality or Nirvana (in Eastern cultures) (2) religion is how individual believes, follows and practices a particular creed, may be organizational (often religious gatherings such as church services, worship, ceremonies, study groups or prayer, etc) not organizational (frequency of religious activities private, such as prayer, meditation, reading religious texts, listen to or watch religious programs on television or radio, etc) or intrinsic (search internalization and full experience of religiosity, the main objective of the individual) (3) spirituality refers to a personal quest for understanding, related to greater existential questions (for example, the purpose and the meaning of life) and their relationship with the sacred and/or transcendent that may or may not lead to the development of religious practices or formation of religious communities. The diagnosis of cancer can threaten the understanding of life of patients, spiritual coping (English word without literal translation in Portuguese, can mean dealing with, manage, cope or adapt to) maintain self esteem and sense of purpose and meaning, offers emotional support and inspires hope. There is a consensus that spirituality is related to the quality of life of patients in general, and especially cancer patients. Many find spirituality in the practice of a religion or its relationship with the divine. However, others find spirituality in their connection with others, with nature, art, or through a set of values and principles and the pursuit of scientific truth, or in confrontation with a disease like cancer, it takes people to face their own finitude. Regard as important the spiritual condition and spiritual concerns of cancer patients have a key role in palliative care of such patients.