A influência da espiritualidade no tratamento de pacientes oncológicos não paliativos: uma revisão integrativa

Abstract

Introduction: Cancer is an invasive and aggressive disease marked by extreme suffering andphysical, psychological, social and moral exhaustion of patients and families. In the context ofhumanized and holistic care, it is possible to observe how much external factors directly orindirectly influence the treatment and follow-up of the disease in certain cases. Cancertreatment requires emotional support intrinsically linked to drug treatment. Spirituality provesto be effective and necessary, through the search for meaning, encouragement, overcomingand motivation to continue in the fight against the disease. The insertion of this approachwithin hospital centers together with the drug treatment offered to patients who need and wantthis support during treatment brings significant changes in the evolution of the disease orcoping and continuity of treatment. Objective: This study aims to verify the importance ofspirituality as a tool to help and change the coping and improvement of cancer patients duringtreatment. Methodology: This is an Integrative Review (IR) of the literature, conducted andbuilt through steps based on the integrative review system "Research methods forincorporating evidence in health and nursing". An advanced search was carried out in thecomputerized databases of the Virtual Health Library (VHL-BIREME): Excerpta MedicadataBASE (EMBASE), US National Library of Medicine (PUBMED), Latin American andCaribbean Literature in Health Sciences (LILACS ) and Cochrane Library. Complete articleswere included, in Portuguese and English published between 2010-2020, using the followingcontrolled descriptors in Health Sciences: psychological adaptations, coping behavior,spirituality, religion, non-palliative and oncology. Results: 218 articles were found and afterreading the titles and abstracts, 61 articles were selected for full reading. After a thoroughreading of the articles, 15 articles were selected to compose the final sample, 3 in Portugueseand 12 in English. A non-validated instrument was used to record information on articlescontaining title, year, authors, methodology, main results and final considerations.Discussion: The spirituality acts as a protective factor and is an effective and beneficialcoping tool within cancer treatment. There is a significant improvement in the quality of lifeof these patients as well as better mental health, with better levels of resilience, hope andcomfort. Cancer patients are healthier, optimistic and confident. The team is still unpreparedto address this issue within care. Conclusion: It is concluded that spirituality helpsconsiderably within the health-disease context and is viewed positively in coping and thecourse of treatment, in addition to offering a search beyond itself and analyzing the individualas a whole and not only as a pathology. Thus, it allows for a better spiritual well-being thatreflects on the quality of life of patients.