The Effects of Spiritual Care on Fatigue and Pain among Patients with Cancer Receiving Chemotherapy

This study aimed at assessing the effects of spiritual care (SC) on fatigue and pain among patients with cancer receiving chemotherapy. This randomized controlled trial was conducted in 2018. Participants were 145 patients with cancer consecutively recruited from a large-scale public hospital in Zanjan, Iran, and randomly allocated to an intervention (n = 72) group and a control (n = 73) group through block randomization. Participants in the intervention group received SC for 3 days. The Fatigue Severity Scale and a visual analog scale were, respectively, used for fatigue and pain assessments before and after the study intervention. Chi-square test and the independent t test as well as the analysis of covariance were employed to analyze the data. The pretest mean score of fatigue was 5.18 ± 1.36 in the intervention group and 5.03 ± 1.29 in the control group with no significant between-group difference (P = .529). The posttest mean score of fatigue was 3.75 ± 1.05 in the intervention group and 4.80 ± 1.16 in the control group and the between-group difference was significant (P < .001). The pretest mean score of cancer-related pain in these groups was 2.64 ± 0.98 and 2.46 ± 1.22, which changed to 1.51 ± 1.006 and 2.32 ± 1.70, respectively, at posttest. The between-group difference respecting the mean score of pain was insignificant at pretest (P = .389) and significant at posttest (P = .001). Spiritual care is effective in significantly reducing fatigue and pain among patients with cancer receiving chemotherapy. Nurses and other health care providers can use SC to manage fatigue and pain of patients with cancer.