Meaning in Life and Religious Coping in Women with Breast Cancer Compared with Healthy Women

Objective: This study compared meaning in life and religious coping between women with breast cancer and healthy women.

Methods and Materials: This applied causal-comparative study included 278 women who attended a specialized breast surgery clinic during 2022–2023. Participants were selected through purposive sampling and assigned to two matched groups: women with breast cancer who had undergone surgery but had not yet started radiotherapy or pharmacological treatment (n = 139) and healthy women without a history of breast cancer (n = 139). Data were collected using the Meaning in Life Questionnaire and the Religious Coping Scale. Multivariate analysis of variance and post hoc tests were performed using SPSS-24.

Findings: Women with breast cancer reported lower total meaning in life than healthy women (40.20 ± 5.74 vs. 45.30 ± 7.95). Group differences were significant for meaning in life (Wilks’ Lambda = 0.086, F = 26.06, p = 0.001, η² = 0.92), including presence of meaning (mean difference = −4.49, p = 0.001) and search for meaning (mean difference = −3.11, p = 0.001). Women with breast cancer also had lower total religious coping scores than healthy women (42.08 ± 6.13 vs. 46.73 ± 5.93). Religious coping differed significantly between groups (Wilks’ Lambda = 0.006, F = 6.86, p < 0.001, η² = 0.99), with lower positive religious coping (mean difference = −2.79, p < 0.001) and higher negative religious coping (mean difference = 3.80, p = 0.02).

Conclusion: Women with breast cancer showed lower meaning in life and less adaptive religious coping than healthy women. Existential and spiritually informed interventions may support psychological adjustment in this population.