Spirituality and religious coping in patients with cystic fibrosis and their parents

In this article, we reviewed spirituality and religiouscoping in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) and theirparents to draw attention to the importance ofspiritual and religious dimensions of CF patients.Coping styles seem to have a large effect upon thequality of life of CF patients. In CF, all phasesincluding past, present and future were permeatedwith the search for the meaning of the disease andsocial support, the importance of religion andspirituality, and child's socialization. Children withCF reported a variety of religious/spiritual copingstrategies they nearly always associated withadaptive health outcomes. Persons with late-life CFdiagnoses used spirituality to make meaning,understanding themselves in a collaborativepartnership with their pulmonologist and Allah.Most parents of children with CF reported prayer as helpful and multi-faceted, including individual andgroup prayer. Parents imagined Allah as active,benevolent, and interventionist; found hope in theirbeliefs; felt supported by Allah; and related religionto their motivation to adhere to their child's treatmentplan. Conclusion – We would like to emphasize thatspirituality and religious coping have a large effectupon the quality of life of CF patients and theirparents. Given religion's importance to many peoplein the world, we believe that using religious copingis the right of patients with CF and their parents.Spiritual care for patients with CF and their parentsneeds to be integrated into the curriculum of nursesand health care professionals in collaboration withpastoral caregivers.