Appraisals of cancer, religious/spiritual coping, and hope in patients with colorectal cancer.

Purpose/objectives: To examine the extent to which religious/spiritual coping moderates the association between stress appraisals and hope among patients with colorectal cancer.

Design/research approach: A longitudinal, prospective examination of hope, stress appraisals of cancer, and religious/spiritual coping through self-report questionnaires at baseline, 6-months, and 12-months post-surgery.

Sample/participants: One hundred thirty-nine newly diagnosed patients with colorectal cancer recruited from tertiary medical centers.

Findings: Challenge and threat appraisals predicted hope. Only the relationship between hope and challenge appraisals was significantly moderated by coping through religion/spirituality, such that those who were both low on challenge and low in religious/spiritual coping reported the lowest hope.

Conclusions/interpretation: Hope is predicted by how people appraise their cancer. Hope was lowest among participants who reported both low challenge appraisals and religious/spiritual coping.

Implications for psychosocial providers: Understanding how patients appraise their cancer and use religion/spirituality to cope may help providers understand which patients are at risk for low hope.