Spirituality in adolescents with cancer.

OBJECTIVE: As adolescents with cancer are at risk of experiencing spiritual distress, they tend to have unique spiritual needs. Spirituality plays a significant role for adolescents with cancer as it contributes to increased comfort and calmness, and better coping mechanisms when confronted with the illness, which indirectly improves the adolescent's quality of life. This study aimed to explore spiritual experiences in adolescents with cancer.

METHOD: A qualitative study using a phenomenology approach was conducted. Nine adolescents with chemotherapy-treated cancer were purposefully selected to be involved in this study. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis.

RESULTS: This study identified six spiritual themes in adolescents with cancer: a) accepting their illness; b) believing their illness in God's will; c) improving spiritual practices; d) expressing empathy to parents; e) maintaining relationships with significant others, and f) achieving self-actualization.

CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that spirituality gave hope to adolescents by helping them to overcome existential problems related to cancer. We believe it is necessary for nurses to address the spiritual needs of adolescent with cancer as this will help these young people accept their condition with more grace and humility.