Date of Award

2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

College

College of Education and International Services

Program

Counseling Psychology, Ph.D.

First Advisor

Carole Woolford-Hunt

Second Advisor

Jimmy Kijai

Third Advisor

Elvin Gabriel

Abstract

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study was to investigate the role of family support, friends' support, community support, and prayer on the psychological well-being of cancer patients in Canada.

Methodology

A survey research method was used in this study. The survey was distributed through the QuestionPro audience and had 721 viewers, 674 respondents, and 400 participants (i.e., those who completed the survey). The survey completion rate was 59.35%, with an average completion time of 9 minutes. Most participants were Christians (62.0%), some were unaffiliated (29.5%), and the remaining participants were either Muslims, World Religion, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc. (3.0%) (See Table 2). A quantitative approach, combining multivariate analysis of variance and structural equation modeling, was used to analyse the data.

Results

Four research questions were posed to examine the role of family, friends, faith community, and prayer in enhancing the psychological well-being of cancer patients in Canada. The results indicated significant differences among types of cancer in the linear combination of psychological well-being. They also showed a significant main effect for prayer of Supplication and Confession, a significant Diagnosis time effect for Thanksgiving and Supplication, and a significant interaction effect for the prayer of Reception and Adoration. Greater support from family, friends, and faith community results in more positive psychological well-being (β=.30, p< .001). Prayer partially mediates the influence of support on psychological well-being (β=.197, p< .001). Higher levels of prayer appear to lead to more positive psychological well-being (β=.30, p< .001). Total effects (direct and indirect) explain about 30% (R2=.30) of the variance in psychological well-being.

Conclusion

The objective of this study was to investigate the role of support (from spouse, family, friends, faith community) and prayer in enhancing the psychological well-being of cancer patients in Canada. As such, the researcher has been able to determine the nature of the relationship between psychological well-being and types of cancer, diagnosis time, and the extent to which prayer is related to types of cancer and the year(s) since diagnosis. It was evident that support and prayer are strong predictors of psychological well-being, and that both factors enhance psychological well-being.

Subject Area

Cancer—Patients—Family relationships; Prayer; Cancer--Patients--Canada; Well-being--Religious aspects;

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