Active coping mediates the association between religion/spirituality and quality of life in ovarian cancer.

Objectives: This study investigated the role of religion/spirituality (R/S) and coping in quality of life (QOL) in 129 women immediately prior to a course of adjuvant chemotherapy for ovarian cancer.

Methods: Participants completed the COPE, the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Ovarian (FACT-O), and the Systems of Belief Inventory-15R (SBI-15R). Women averaged 58.9 years of age (SD = 11.5) and were primarily Caucasian (86%), married (74%), and had received at least some college education (67%). Eighty-five percent of the participants had stage III or IV ovarian cancer at study entry.

Results: Correlational analyses revealed that R/S was associated with active coping (r = 0.23, P = 0.022), overall QOL (r = 0.25, P = 0.012), emotional and functional well-being (r = 0.24, P = 0.014 and r = 0.28, P = 0.004), and fewer ovarian cancer-specific concerns (r = 0.27, P = 0.006). In addition, active coping was related to overall QOL (r = 0.22, P = 0.029) and social and functional well-being (r = 0.20, P = 0.042 and r = 0.33, P = 0.001). Tests of mediation between these variables suggested that the positive associations between R/S and functional well-being and R/S and overall QOL were mediated through the use of active coping.

Conclusion: Future studies are needed to better understand the complex relationships between R/S, coping, and QOL throughout the ovarian cancer treatment experience.