Spiritual Belief Systems Expectations: Impact on Anxiety and Depression

In the past decade, significant attention has been placed on the role of spirituality in response to life events both in the public discourse and in the medicaVoncology field. Many studies have been surveys, defining hat the public perceives as spiritual issues and its global importance. Researchers in medicine, nursing, chaplaincy, psychiatry and religious studies have focused on spirituality and cancer. Research focus areas include descriptions of spirituality versus religiosity, correlations between the positive and negative influences of religion on quality of life, and psychologial correlates. My proposal is designed to look at relationships among an individual's strength of belief, their expecations of what their belief system provides for them, whether or not those expectations are being met, and the role of anxiety and/or depression on their experiences.