SPIRITUAL HEALING AMONG NORWEGIAN HOSPITALIZED CANCER-PATIENTS AND PATIENTS RELIGIOUS NEEDS AND PREFERENCES OF PASTORAL SERVICES

In a national questionnaire-based multicentre study, the use of 'alter native medicine', here called nonproven therapy (NPT), was examined. F ive questions about the patients' religious beliefs and their preferen ces concerning pastoral services in the hospitals were included. Among the 911 invited patients, 642 (70.5%) were included in the analysis. Spiritual healing, defined as faith healing and healing by hand, was t he most frequently used NPT among Norwegian cancer patients. Almost 50 % of cancer patients using spiritual healing had used NPTs, mainly spi ritual healing, prior to the diagnosis of cancer. Women, elderly peopl e and patients using faith healing described themselves more often as religious. 139 (23%) of the responding patients reported a strengtheni ng of their religious belief after the diagnosis of cancer. Patients l ess than 45 years of age and better educated patients expressed more f requently that all patients should be offered pastoral services during the hospital stay. Older patients, in spite of being more religious, expressed that the patients themselves had to request such services.