• Arndt Büssing, Thomas Ostermann, and Peter F Matthiessen.
• Department of Applied Immunology, Community Hospital, Herdecke, Germany. Arndt.Buessing@uni-whide
• Anticancer Res. 2005 Mar 1; 25 (2B): 1449-55.

BackgroundSpiritual needs are an essential component of holistic health care. Several studies have shown that religious involvement and spirituality are associated with better health outcome, coping skills and health-related quality of life.Patients And MethodsUsing the newly developed SpREUK inventory, we examined how German cancer patients (n=115) by themselves view the impact of spirituality and religiosity (SpR) on their health and how they cope with illness.ResultsCancer patients with both a religious and spiritual attitude had significantly higher values in the search for meaningful support and in addressing the stabilizing effects of SpR than patients without such attitudes. Patients with non-spiritual religious attitudes had a lower perception of the beneficial effects of their SpR and significantly lower needs for meaningful support. Female cancer patients were convinced that finding access to a spiritual source has a positive influence on their illness, that illness has meaning, regard illness as a chance for their own development and as a hint to change life.ConclusionKnowledge of a patient's spirituality can help service providers predict aspects of psychosocial needs and to respond sensitively and appropriately. The SpREUK questionnaire is a useful tool to define patients who are more in need of spiritual support than others.

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