Cancer is one of the growing diseases [1]. About 9 percent of the world's deaths are due to cancer. As the global numbers split, the cancer rates in developed and developing countries are changing. In developed countries, after cardiovascular disease, cancer is the second leading cause of death (19%) and in developing countries the fourth leading cause (6%) [2].
For the past 30 years the importance of spirituality has been on the rise in the world. This is also recognized in the nursing profession [8].
Spiritual care are activities and methods of care that promote the quality of spiritual life, spiritual health, and spiritual functioning. Spiritual care has a positive effect on one's response to stress, spiritual well-being, balance between physical, mental, social and spiritual aspects of the sense of wholeness and transcendence and improved patient communication with others [8].
The healing presence is the basis of a long-term relationship between the nurse and the patient that improves clinical decision making and final outcome of the disease [13]. The healing presence is a nursing intervention that is defined as being physically and mentally fit over time and has three levels of physical (body-to-body), mental, and therapeutic (soul-to-soul) [14].
Spiritual care has been emphasized in various studies, but the nature, implementation, and practical measures of spiritual care, especially the presence of healing, have not been described in detail and operationally and its effectiveness has not been evaluated.This study aimed to assess the quality of life of chemotherapy patients.

 

This study is a semi experimental study in two private hospitals in Tehran in 2017. The samples were first selected from among the patients who were referred to these two hospitals. Quality of life of patients before and after two months after intervention was measured and recorded using demographic questionnaire and EORTC questionnaire for measuring the quality of life of cancer patients. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire was assessed by Safaee et al. [20].
To analyze the data, descriptive and analytic tests such as mean differences test and analysis of variance were used using SPSS 20.

According to the findings of the study, the distribution of samples in the control and intervention groups did not differ significantly in terms of demographic and confounding variables such as age, sex, occupation, education and type of cancer (Table 1). According to the study objectives, no significant difference was found in the results for the pre and post intervention in the control group (P>0.05). In the control group that did not use the healing care plan, no change was found in the dimensions of quality of life, functioning, and symptoms (Table 2).
According to the results of paired t-test, there was a significant difference in the experimental group before and after the intervention for the three dimensions of quality of life, functional dimension and symptom dimension. (P<0.05), meaning that the care program affected the test group and caused changes in the three dimensions of quality of life, function and symptoms. Based on the results of independent t-test, there was no significant difference between mean of quality of life in all dimensions (quality of life, functional dimension and symptom dimension) between the two groups before intervention (P>0.05), but the same difference was not significant in all groups. The mean scores of quality of life after intervention in both groups were significantly lower (P<0.05) (Table 3).
 

Table 1. Demographic characteristics of the participants



Table 2. Mean of quality of life in chemotherapy patients before and after intervention in control and test groups


Table 3. Comparison of mean dimensions of quality of life in chemotherapy patients before and after intervention in both experimental and control groups

In the present study, the effect of a care plan based on the presence of a healing plan on the quality of life of chemotherapy patients was investigated. According to the results, the quality of life after intervention was significantly increased in the intervention group compared to the control group. Given that both control and test groups were similar in demographic characteristics, it can be concluded that changes in the mean of quality of life may be due to the healing presence-based care plan.
 

Healing presence alone as an integral part of spiritual care can be effective in improving the quality of life of patients. Therefore, nurses can be advised to use this care plan as it is more effective if they focus on their presence along with patients in caring activities and focus on indicators and elements designed to heal.

The present study was extracted from the Master's Degree in Nursing at the Faculty of Medical Sciences of Tarbiat Modares University, which has also been approved by the University Ethics Committee, IR.TMU.REC.1395.430. We have an increasing health wish for the health of the patients participating in this study.

 

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.