The role of religious coping in adjustment to cancer.

This study tested a model of adjustment to cancer in which social support, disease impact, and religious coping were hypothesized to have an impact on adjustment to cancer that was mediated by self-efficacy. Two hundred and ninety-two people with cancer completed questionnaires. Three analyses were undertaken: first, the structure of the Religious Problem Solving Scale was assessed by a factor analysis in which two factors emerged, Deferring-Collaborative and Self-Directing; second, the resulting factors' relationships to outcome measures were assessed through correlational and regression analyses; third, a mediated model of coping was tested with self-efficacy as a mediating variable between religious coping and adjustment. The Deferring-Collaborative factor had positive relationships with most of the variables and was partially mediated by self-efficacy. The results indicate that religious coping has no relationship to quality of life, a positive relationship with adjustment, and was more important in this study than available social support. Copyright 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.