The Role of Support and Prayer in Enhancing the Psychological Well-Being of Cancer Patients in Canada

<p>Purpose of the Study</p> <p>The purpose of the study was to investigate the role of family support, friends' support, community support, and prayer on the psychological well-being of cancer patients in Canada.</p> <p>Methodology</p> <p>A survey research method was used in this study. The survey was distributed through the QuestionPro audience and had 721 viewers, 674 respondents, and 400 participants (i.e., those who completed the survey). The survey completion rate was 59.35%, with an average completion time of 9 minutes. Most participants were Christians (62.0%), some were unaffiliated (29.5%), and the remaining participants were either Muslims, World Religion, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc. (3.0%) (See Table 2). A quantitative approach, combining multivariate analysis of variance and structural equation modeling, was used to analyse the data.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Four research questions were posed to examine the role of family, friends, faith community, and prayer in enhancing the psychological well-being of cancer patients in Canada. The results indicated significant differences among types of cancer in the linear combination of psychological well-being. They also showed a significant main effect for prayer of Supplication and Confession, a significant Diagnosis time effect for Thanksgiving and Supplication, and a significant interaction effect for the prayer of Reception and Adoration. Greater support from family, friends, and faith community results in more positive psychological well-being (β=.30, p< .001). Prayer partially mediates the influence of support on psychological well-being (β=.197, p< .001). Higher levels of prayer appear to lead to more positive psychological well-being (β=.30, p< .001). Total effects (direct and indirect) explain about 30% (R2=.30) of the variance in psychological well-being.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The objective of this study was to investigate the role of support (from spouse, family, friends, faith community) and prayer in enhancing the psychological well-being of cancer patients in Canada. As such, the researcher has been able to determine the nature of the relationship between psychological well-being and types of cancer, diagnosis time, and the extent to which prayer is related to types of cancer and the year(s) since diagnosis. It was evident that support and prayer are strong predictors of psychological well-being, and that both factors enhance psychological well-being.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Counseling Psychology, Ph.D.

Year dc:date.available

2025

Author dc:creator

• Mbah, Emmanuel N.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Carole Woolford-Hunt
• Jimmy Kijai
• Elvin Gabriel

• Family Support
• Prayer
• Well Being
• Cancer Patients
• Canada
• Counseling
• Other Psychiatry and Psychology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/dissertations/1851

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.andrews.edu:dissertations-3122