ArticleSocial science & medicine (1982)2023
"Letting go" - Relinquishing control of illness outcomes to God and quality of life: Meaning/peace as a mediating mechanism in religious coping with cancer.
Article in Social science & medicine (1982), 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed.
- Illness Uncertainty and Coping Strategies Among Families of Children with Cancer in China: A Family-Centered Qualitative Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- The longitudinal effects of faith and meaning on quality of life in US women with breast cancer undergoing chemotherapy.Palliative & supportive care · 2026Article
- Uncertainty tolerance in healthcare: towards a normative conception.Theoretical medicine and bioethics · 2026Article
- Mapping the Landscape of Religious Coping: Review and Bibliometric Analysis of Theocentric and Non-Theocentric Practices.Journal of religion and health · 2026Review
- Trauma levels and coping strategies of health sciences students following the large-scale earthquakes in Türkiye.Revista da Escola de Enfermagem da U S P · 2026Article
- Acceptance in Patients With Cancer: A Scoping Review.Cancer reports (Hoboken, N.J.) · 2025Article
- Trajectories of Cancer Survivors' Spiritual Well-Being Through the Transition From Treatment to Early Survivorship.Psycho-oncology · 2024Article
- Resilience and spiritual well-being as resources for coping with radiotherapy and surviving in patients with glioblastoma.Palliative & supportive care · 2024Observational
- Integration of Psychosocial Theory into Palliative Care: Implications for Care Planning and Early Palliative Care.Cancers · 2024Review
- Review
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4 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundRelinquishing control (RC) of outcomes to God is a long-standing form of religious coping with serious illness. Placing cancer outcomes "in God's hands" has been positively related to coping and quality of life (QOL). However, the mechanisms involved in this relationship have not been established. A serial mediation model [i.e., RC (X)-Meaning/Peace (M1)-Coping Efficacy (M2)-Symptoms, Physical QOL, Functional QOL (Ys)] tested the hypothesis that Meaning/Peace alone and in conjunction with coping would mediate the RC-QOL relationship.
method548 persons with a cancer diagnosis completed the Religious Problem-Solving Scale (RPSS), FACIT-Sp Meaning and Peace Scales, Cancer Behavior Inventory (coping efficacy), and measures of Physical Quality of Life (PQOL), Functional Quality of Life (FQOL) and Symptoms.
resultsAs hypothesized, the single mediation effects of Meaning/Peace were significant [Indirect Effects: PQOL: .23 (95% CI: 0.15, 0.34); FQOL: 0.46 (95% CI: 0.33, 0.61); Symptoms: -0.18 (95% CI: -0.27, -0.10)]. In addition, mediation was confirmed for the serial mediation model (i.e., Meaning/Peace - Coping Efficacy as serial mediators) with significant indirect effects [Indirect Effects: PQOL: 0.37 (95% CI: 0.27, 0.48); FQOL: 0.57 (95% CI: 0.42, 0.72); Symptoms: -0.25 (95% CI: -0.35, -0.17)].
conclusionsIn the mediation models tested, the RC-QOL and RC-Symptoms relationships were mediated by the confluence of a sense of peace perhaps due to patients' feelings that outcomes were "in God's hands" and a sense of coherence between their current situation and a spiritually-based meaning system. Meaning/Peace was also related to coping efficacy, suggesting that these mediating constructs could be used to inform evidence-based interventions, such as Meaning-Centered therapies, that are sensitive to the belief systems of cancer patients and enhance QOL.
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