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A New Questionnaire (QRFPC25) Regarding the Religiosity and Spirituality in People with Life-Threatening Disease: Reliability and Validity in a Population of Cancer Patients Undergoing Radiotherapy

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Abstract

The development of a questionnaire (QRFPC25) assessing the religiosity of cancer patients. The method used for the questionnaire comprises seven multi-item and three single-item scales formed from a 25-question module. The questionnaire was completed on-site and a week after antineoplastic therapy. The final sample included 156 patients. The main topics of the QRFPC25 are the following: worship, relationship with the divine, spiritual discussion, hope, participation in holly communion, faith, life after death, love, bioethics and global quality of life (QoL). The average time of both times taken to complete the questionnaire was approximately 10 min. All multi-item scales met the minimal standards of reliability (Cronbach’s alpha coefficient ≥.70) before or after treatment. Test–retest reliability in terms of the intraclass correlation coefficient was also satisfactory (p < 0.01). Validity was assured by inter-item correlations and correlations with the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer’s Core Quality of Life Questionnaire (QLQ-C30, version 3.0), along with factor analysis which showed eight factors incorporated in the model. The QRFPC25 is a reliable and valid gauge for the assessment of religiosity in cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. 2nd Department of Radiology, Radiotherapy Unit, ATTIKON University Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Medical School, Rimini 1, Chaidari, Athens, Greece

    Vassilis Kouloulias & Nikolaos Kelekis

  2. 1st Department of Radiology, Radiotherapy Unit, Aretaieion University Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Medical School, Vas Sofias, Athens, Greece

    Vassilis Kouloulias, John Kokakis & John Kouvaris

Authors
  1. Vassilis Kouloulias
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  2. John Kokakis
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  3. Nikolaos Kelekis
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  4. John Kouvaris
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Correspondence to Vassilis Kouloulias.

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We want to confirm that this study was not funded by any grant. None of the authors has received any research grant. Thus, all authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Kouloulias, V., Kokakis, J., Kelekis, N. et al. A New Questionnaire (QRFPC25) Regarding the Religiosity and Spirituality in People with Life-Threatening Disease: Reliability and Validity in a Population of Cancer Patients Undergoing Radiotherapy. J Relig Health 56, 1137–1154 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-016-0310-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-016-0310-z

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