Patients with chronic or terminal illnesses may find it easier to manage their conditions if they have a strong sense of their spiritual well-being (SWB) or their perception of the meaning and purpose of life. For a study, researchers evaluated SWB in patients with PD as well as its associations with patient features and patient-reported outcomes (PRO).
The PD Outcomes and Practice Patterns Study questionnaires were used to collect the data. Measures used in the study included SWB scores from the WHO quality of life, spirituality, religiousness, and personal beliefs (WHOQOL-SRPB) tool, which includes 32 items from eight facets, PCS and MCS scores from the 12-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-12), CES-D-10 scores for depression, the burden of kidney disease scores, and functional status scores.
Overall, 62% of the participants, or 529 out of 848, completed the questionnaires and participated in the study. About 70% of PD patients had SWB scores that were moderate or above. Patients who were older than 65 and jobless had considerably lower SWB scores. Positive correlations were found between SWB scores and greater PCS, MCS, the burden of renal disease, and functional status scores, whereas negative correlations were found between SWB scores and depression scores on the CES-D-10 scale. Significantly lower SWB scores were seen in patients who reported major depression symptoms (CES-D-10 score ≥10).
Greater HRQOL and the lack of depressive symptoms were substantially correlated with better SWB and health-related QOL (HRQOL). Delivering high-quality PD may require taking SWB into account.
Reference: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/nep.14034
