THE INFLUENCE OF SPIRITUAL WELL-BEING AND DEPRESSION ON THE PERCEPTION OF PAIN IN PATIENTS WITH METASTATIC BREAST CANCER

Introduction: Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in the world and the most prevalent among women. It is known that 20% to 50% of patients with breast cancer complain of pain, a number that increases to 90% in metastatic patients. The frequency of pain increases as the disease progresses, causing physical, emotional, spiritual and functional discomfort. Objective: To evaluate the influence of spiritual well-being and depressive symptoms on the perception of pain in patients affected by metastatic breast câncer. Methods: Observational, cross-sectional, descriptive, exploratory and correlational study, with a quantitative approach, using the instruments Brief Pain Inventory, FACIT-Sp-12 and BECK Depression Inventory – Short Form. Results: Thirty patients answered the online questionnaire. Most patients (80%) were being followed up in a public service. The average age was 57.3 years, 28 (93%) considered themselves white, 18 (60%) were married or in a stable relationship and had an average time of 24.9 years together with their partner. Regarding religion, the majority were Catholic, 27 (90%) performed some religious / spiritual practice. In relation to the Brief Pain Inventory, the median in relation to the intensity of pain was 8 and the median in relation to the interference of the pain of daily life was 15. The percentage of pain relief in the last 24 hours was 80%. As for spiritual well-being, the average total score was 33 points on the FACIT-Sp-12 instrument. Regarding the sense / peace domain, the average was 19.5 and 14 in the faith domain. The average total score of the Beck Depression Inventory-SF was 4.5 points. A lower median on the BECK Depression Inventory -Short Form in this study was related to a higher spiritual well-being score (p = 0.003). Conclusion: In the studied sample, there was no significant difference in the perception of pain in relation to spiritual well-being and depressive symptoms. A greater manifestation of spiritual well-being may be related to lower levels of depression.