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Spiritual expression has been proposed as a dimension of quality of life. Persons with chronic diseases such as AIDS or cancer have described the value of spiritual expression in living with their illnesses. The authors examined the role spirituality plays in the lives of 58 people with heart failure being treated medically or by transplant. Instruments used included the Medical Outcome Survey Short Form 36 and Index of Well-Being measures of quality of life, the Spiritual Well-Being Scale, and the Relative Importance Scale. Combined spirituality scores predicted 24% of the variance in global quality of life. There were no significant gender differences in spiritual well-being or quality of life.

Heart failure is a chronic disabling problem afflicting a growing number of adults. These individuals experience episodes of exacerbation demonstrated by increasing shortness of breath, fatigue, and fluid retention. The symptoms often develop in a slow and insidious manner making perception of worsening difficult to determine. Theoretically, an increase in body awareness may help individuals recognize symptoms of worsening heart failure earlier, but it is not known whether increased body awareness leads to somatization, an abnormal dwelling on body symptoms. This study was conducted to describe body awareness in 90 persons with heart failure or after transplant. We found that the Body Awareness Quesionnaire was a reliable measure of this concept in this sample. When body awareness was examined for age, gender, and treatment (HF or transplant) group were examined, no significant differences were found. Furthermore, there were no significant relationships between body awarenss and negative moods such as anxiety, depression, or anger. Interventions to enhance body awareness may be a fruitful new direction that will improve symptom recognition without increasing somatization in persons with heart failure.

The goal of this study is to examine the influence of maternal education level, context, and maternal beliefs on the teaching behaviors of African American mothers. In addition, the relationship between maternal teaching and children’s mastery of the information is explored. Fifty-one African American mothers were observed teaching their 4-year-old preschool children three memory tasks and were administered a three-part questionnaire to determine their metamemory beliefs, their assessment of their children’s memory competence, and the amount of time they engaged in memory activities with their children. The results of the MANOVA applied to the data reveal that maternal teaching varied significantly according to education level and context. Several of the maternal strategies are predictive of the preschoolers’mastery of the information as well. Explanation of the findings and directions for future research are discussed.

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