Paliatívna medicína a liečba bolesti 1-2e/2022

Forgiveness, coping strategies and well-being in the context of bereavement in relatives of deceased cancer patients

Purpose: The study aims to find out the connections between forgiveness, coping strategies and well-being in the context of bereavement in family relatives with oncology sick patients. Little attention is paid to this topic, which is also indicated by the lack of research findings concerning family members of cancer patients. Methods: The research group consisted of two groups (N = 211). The first group consisted of family relatives of the deceased oncology patient (N = 119) aged 17 to 47, of which 61 were women and 58 were men, and their average age was 25.94 years (SD = 21.21). The second comparison group consisted of family relatives of an oncology patient undergoing treatment (N = 92) aged 18 to 56 years, of which 53 were women and 39 were men, and their average age was 27.32 years (SD = 26.16). Results: Our research confirmed significant positive correlations between well-being and dimensions of total forgiveness and the existence of a statistically significant negative relationship between grief and forgiveness. In research, we found that relatives of a patient in treatment scored higher in forgiveness compared to relatives of a deceased patient. Furthermore, we found differences in coping strategies between the relatives of the patient in treatment and the relatives of the deceased patient, specifically in denial, informational support and positive outlook. Conclusion: The results show that it is necessary to examine the psychological state of family members of oncological patients as well as pay attention to the close survivors of oncological patients who succumbed to the disease.

Keywords: forgiveness, oncological disease, well-being, sadness, coping strategies