Sense of coherence and its context with demographics, psychological aspects, lifestyle, complementary and alternative medicine and lay aetiology

Purpose For patients with a cancer diagnosis, coping abilities are of high importance.

Cancer patients with a high sense of coherence may cope better.

The purpose of this study is to learn more about the correlation of sense of coherence and different aspects, such as demographics, psychological factors, lifestyle, complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and lay aetiology.

Methods A prospective cross-sectional study was performed in ten cancer centres in Germany.

The questionnaire consisted of ten sub-items, collecting information about sense of coherence, demographics, general life satisfaction, resilience, spirituality, self-efficacy, physical activity and sports, nutrition, CAM methods and cancer causes.

Results As many as 349 participants were evaluable.

The mean sense of coherence score was M  = 47.30.

Significant associations were shown for sense of coherence and financial situation ( r  = 0.230, p  < 0.001), level of education ( r  = 0.187, p  < 0.001), marital status ( η  = 0.177, p  = 0.026) and time interval since diagnosis ( r  = − 0.109, p  = 0.045).

Sense of coherence and resilience correlated on a high level, as well as spirituality, self-efficacy and general life satisfaction ( r  = 0.563, r  = 0.432, r  = 0.461, r  = 0.306, p ’s < 0.001).

Conclusion Several aspects, such as demographics and psychological factors, have a great influence on the sense of coherence.

To help patients to cope better, physicians should try to strengthen sense of coherence, resilience and self-efficacy and, at the same time, consider patients’ individual background such as level of education, financial capacity and emotional support by family members.