S p i r i t ua l i t y S t u d i e s 7 - 2 Fa l l 2 0 2 1 6 3 Mária Dědová 2 Method 2.1 Sample and Procedure There were 126 participants in the study, out of whom 100 were females. The average age of the participants was 64 years (SD = 8.74). The sample was heterogeneous as regards the type of cancer. The most frequent diagnosis was breast cancer (48 cases) followed by gastrointestinal cancer (17 cancer), ovarian cancer (13 cases) and testicular cancer (8 cases). The average time elapsed after the diagnosing of cancer was 39 months (SD = 34.46), about 65% of patients were in the remission and 17 patients had experienced one or more relapses of cancer. As regards sociodemographic data, 61.9% were married, with two children, and 65.5% had achieved high-school level education. Approximately one third of the participants (48 cases) reported cancer in the family anamnesis. Cancer survivorship is defined as a process that begins at the moment of diagnosis and continues throughout life (Marzorati et al. 2016). National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (2014) defines cancer survivorship as cancer continuum – living with, through, and beyond a cancer diagnosis. On this continuum, three phases of survivorship can be identified: acute, which refers to the diagnosis and treatment of cancer; extended, related to the period following treatment; and permanent; survivorship as equivalent to complete recovery (Mullan 1985). Due to our effort to reduce selection bias (range restriction) (Pedhazur and Schmelkin 1991), we included patients into data collection regardless of the fact, whether their treatment had been finished or not. The study was conducted from November 2018 to February 2019. The research project Cognitive-Existential Profile and Specifics of Posttraumatic Growth in Cancer Patients was approved by the Ethics Committee of Trnava University. The participation in the study was voluntary, anonymous and the patients were able to abandon the study at any stage without any consequences. The patients confirmed their participation in the study through an informed consent. Data were collected online in combination with personal participation of the researchers. The basic criteria for participation were the age of eighteen and more, being a patient with a cancer diagnosis, without a serious mental or physical condition and not being terminally ill. 2.2 Measures Mini-Mental Adjustment to Cancer (Mini-MAC; Watson et al. 1994) is a 29-item questionnaire used to measure coping strategies in cancer patients. It maps five different strategies of coping with cancer (Grassi et al. 2005): helplessness-hopelessness (pessimistic attitude towards the illness) (ΩTOTAL =.89); cognitive avoidance (avoiding direct confrontation with the problems associated with the illness) (ΩTOTAL =.70); fatalism (resigned attitude towards the illness) (alpha =.28); anxious preoccupation (experiencing the illness through anxiety and tension) (ΩTOTAL =.75); fighting spirit (tendency to face the illness actively) (ΩTOTAL =.64). The participants respond to statements using a 4-item Likert scale (from 1–strongly disagree, to 4–strongly agree). The Centrality of Religiosity Scale (CRS-5; Huber and Huber 2012) is a scale used to measure experience of faith to individuals. It includes a multidimensional model of spirituality. In the study, we used a shortened 5-item version of the scale (ΩTOTAL =.80) which includes five dimensions: 1) Intellectual dimension of spirituality (“How often do you think about religious issues?”) on the scale from 1 to 5 (very often – never); 2) Ideological dimension of spirituality (“To what extent do you believe that God or something divine exists?”) on the scale from 1 to 5 (absolutely – not at all); 3) Public practice of faith (“How often do you take part in religious services?”) on the scale from 1 to 6 (more than once a week – never); 4) Private practice of faith (“How often do you pray?”) on the scale from 1 to 7 (several times a day – never); 5) The dimension of the experience of faith (“How often do you experience situations in which you have the feeling that God or something divine intervenes in your life?”) on the scale from 1 to 5 (very often – never).
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