Associations among Spirituality, Health-Related Quality of Life, and Depression in Pre-Dialysis Chronic Kidney Disease Patients: An Exploratory Analysis in Thai Buddhist Patients

Abstract

Abstract:There are numerous studies of quality of life (QOL) in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients; however, there are a few studies of spirituality and its association with QOL. Previous studies were done focusing on Western cultures; thus, the study of CKD patients in Eastern cultures would reveal interesting insights. This study was conducted to explore the spirituality, QOL, and depression of Thai CKD patients, and the associations between spirituality, QOL, and depression. This cross-sectional descriptive study using structured questionnaires was approved by the Khon Kaen University Ethics Committee in Human Research, Thailand. A total of 63 pre-dialysis CKD stage V patients who visited the kidney diseases clinic as appointed at the outpatient department in a community hospital in northeastern Thailand were recruited. The patients were asked for consent and then interviewed. Spirituality was assessed by using the WHOQOL Spirituality, Religiousness and Personal Beliefs (WHOQOL-SRPB) and the Functional Assessment of OPEN ACCESSReligions 2015, 6 1250Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-Being Scale (FACIT-Sp). The 9-item Thai Health Status Assessment Instrument (9-THAI) was used to assess QOL. The Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) was used to evaluate the depression. The study patients had high WHOQOL-SRPB and FACIT-Sp spirituality scores (median = 18.0, and 44.0, respectively). The 9-THAI QOL scores were within the normal range of the Thai general, healthy population (physical health score [PHS]; median = 48.0, mental health score [MHS]; median = 32.0). Based on BDI-II scores, most patients were in the minimal depression group (63.5%). The Spearman rho correlation coefficients (rs) of PHS and WHOQOL-SRPB and FACIT-Sp were moderate with 0.34 for both spirituality measures. Similarly, also the mental health scores (MHS) correlated moderately with WHOQOL-SRPB (rs = 0.46) and FACIT-Sp (rs = 0.37). Depressive symptoms (BDI-II) strongly negatively correlated with WHOQOL-SRPB (rs = −0.58) and FACIT-Sp (rs = −0.55). Overall results were consistent with previous studies in Western contexts. Understanding spirituality would lead to the better management of depression and improving patient survival. These significant associations suggest that further research is needed on how provider knowledge of patient spirituality could affect the outcomes for patients both in terms of depression and patient survival.

Symptom Experiences and Needs of Older Persons Living with Hemodialysis in Relation to Integrating Home Telehealth into Holistic End of Life Care: Phase I

“…The standardised T-scores of PHS and MHS are stratified by gender and age-group and based on the average values for the generally healthy Thai population. The 9-THAI is composed of 7 domains and 2 global health ratings, and encourages subjects to rate their experiences with health conditions during the past month (Saisunantararom et al, 2015). Response choices for the 7 domains are interpreted according to the perceived severity of the problems on a 5point scale, where 1 = "very severe", 2 = "severe", 3 = "moderate", 4 = "mild", and 5 = "not at all".…”

Impact of Religiosity on Delirium Severity Among Critically Ill Shi’a Muslims: A Prospective Multi-Center Observational Study

“…Several systematic reviews of the literature support a relationship between religiosity promoting improved health behaviors (Oji et al 2017;Saad and Medeiros 2017) and lower all-cause mortality (Hatah et al 2015;McCullough et al 2000;Powell et al 2003;Saad and Medeiros 2017). Emerging evidence suggests that R/S are correlated with improved mental and physical health outcomes, including decreased rates of depression (Bonelli et al 2012;El-Hady and Kandeel 2017;Frih et al 2017;Kazemi and Baharami 2014;Saisunantararom et al 2015), anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, suicide, and coronary heart disease (Bashar et al 2018). Additionally, research in Muslim populations suggests that religious practice may generate physiologic changes that are clinically evident.…”

“…Research has consistently linked indices of religious coping to measures of health and well-being, a major source of support and hope, among diverse groups recovering from physical and mental illness or facing critical life events (Alves et al 2010;Marcantonio et al 2005;Mardiyono et al 2011;Saisunantararom et al 2015;Shehabi et al 2010). Hence, these are factors of vital importance to many ICU and their families (Shinall et al 2014;Wall et al 2007).…”

Depression and Spiritual Distress in Adult Palliative Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Quantitative studies have demonstrated that there is an inverse relationship between spirituality and depression, even in different cultures (Bekelman et al 2007;Saisunantararom et al 2015). Bornet et al (Bornet et al 2015) have tested two instruments for measuring depressive symptoms and spiritual distress, namely the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) and the Spiritual Distress Assessment Tool (SDAT).…”