Relationships between quality of life,spiritual well-being,and psychological adjustment styles for people living with leukaemia: An exploratory study

This paper reports on the relationships between quality of life, spiritual well-being, and psychological adjustment styles for people living with leukaemia. Participants were 40 adults (26 women and 14 men) aged between 22 and 80 years living with acute or chronic leukaemia in Western Australia. Participants completed three scales measuring spiritual well-being (FACIT-Sp-12-C Version 4; Cella, 1997 Cella, D. 1997. “Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy (FACIT) Manual, Version 4”. In Chicago: Center on Outcomes Research and Education CORE, Evanston, Chicago: Northwestern Healthcare and Northwestern University.  Google Scholar]), psychological adjustment styles (MAC; Watson, Greer, & Bliss, 1989 Watson, M, Greer, S and Bliss, JM. 1989. Mental Adjustment to Cancer (MAC) Scale: User's manual, London: CRC Psychological Medicine Research Group The Royal Marsden Hospital.  Google Scholar]), and quality of life (FACIT-G; Cella, 1997 Cella, D. 1997. “Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy (FACIT) Manual, Version 4”. In Chicago: Center on Outcomes Research and Education CORE, Evanston, Chicago: Northwestern Healthcare and Northwestern University.  Google Scholar]). No differences were found between the men and women participants, with the exception of the anxious preoccupation adjustment style. Significant positive correlations were found between spiritual well-being and quality of life (r?=?0.72, p?=?<0.01), and between fighting spirit and both spiritual well-being (r?=?0.55, p?<?0.01) and quality of life (r?=?0.67, p?<?0.01). Spiritual well-being and quality of life were both significantly negatively correlated with hopelessness/helplessness, fatalism, and anxious preoccupation, suggesting that people who are able to find meaning in their illness are more likely to utilize functional psychological adjustment styles. A stepwise multiple regression revealed that spiritual well-being was most strongly associated with quality of life for people living with leukaemia, followed by a fighting spirit; together, these accounted for 61% of the variance in quality of life scores. Thus, having a reason for living, making life more productive, finding comfort in faith or spiritual beliefs, being determined to control the environment, and feeling a sense of meaning, peace, harmony, purpose, and comfortable in oneself are factors that contribute to a better quality of life among patients with leukaemia. Strengths, limitations, and implications of the findings are discussed.