ABSTRACT

Previous research has identified close relationships between religious and nonreligious factors and well-being in cancer patients. This study expands on such studies by examining the interplay of religious and nonreligious meaning-making factors on psychological well-being in gastrointestinal cancer patients; 317 patients (160 women and 157 men) with gastrointestinal cancer participated in the current study. Two coping strategies were utilized: negative religious coping and meaning-focused coping. These mediated the relationship between the religious meaning system and psychological well-being and the relationship between the presence of meaning in life and psychological well-being. In contrast, the association between changes in beliefs and goals and psychological well-being was mediated by negative religious coping and the presence of meaning in life. Positive religious coping did not play a mediating role in the above relationships. The findings suggest that for cancer patients, religious and nonreligious factors do not exist in “a psychological vacuum” as separate entities, but tend to interact with each other on a basis of meaning structures.

摘要

先前的研究已经确定了宗教和非宗教因素与癌症患者的幸福感之间的密切关系。本研究通过检查宗教和非宗教意义制定因素对胃肠道癌症患者心理健康的相互作用来扩展此类研究；317 名胃肠癌患者（160 名女性和 157 名男性）参与了当前的研究。使用了两种应对策略：消极的宗教应对和以意义为中心的应对。这些中介了宗教意义系统与心理幸福感之间的关系，以及生活中意义的存在与心理幸福感之间的关系。相比之下，积极的宗教应对在上述关系中没有起到中介作用。研究结果表明，对于癌症患者来说，宗教和非宗教因素并不作为独立的实体存在于“心理真空”中，而是倾向于在意义结构的基础上相互作用。