Spiritual needs of surgical oncology patients

Objective: The study was conducted with the aim of determining the spiritual needs of surgical oncology patients. Material and Method: This descriptive study was conducted between that dates of February and December 2016 at the clinics of Urology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Organ Transplantation, Otolaryngology, Neuro Surgey General Surgery and Thoracic Surgery at İnönü University's Turgut Özal Medical Center. The population of the study consisted of all adult patients who had cancer surgery at these clinics. The sample consisted of 215 patients complying with criteria of inclusion in the study, selected with the method of non-probability random sampling. A Patient Information Form was used to determine the descriptive characteristics of the patients, while the Patients Spiritual Needs Assessment Scale was used to determine the spiritual needs of the patients. The data were collected by the researcher after surgery with the method of face to face interview. Mean, standard deviation and number-percentage tests were used in the statistical analysis of the data. Results: It was found that the patients who participated in the study highly needed "to pray together with someone or someone to pray for them" (58.6%), ''to give or receive love'' (63.3%), "to be accepted as a person" (55.9%), "kindness and sympathy" (67.0%), ''to feel hopeful'' (54.9%), ''to keep a positive outlook'' (66.5%), and "to feel emotions of peace and comfort" (82.8%). Conclusion: As a result of this study, it was determined that surgical oncology patients had many spiritual needs varying based on their individual differences. Keywords: Surgery, Oncology, Patient, Nurse, Spiritual Needs