Relationship Between Spiritual Health and Stress, Depression, and Anxiety in Hemodialysis Patients

Abstract

Background: Chronic diseases confront the patient with questions about the meaning and the purpose of life, and many patients recognize spiritual health as a factor in creating meaning and purpose in life and improving the quality of life. Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between spiritual health and stress, depression, and anxiety in hemodialysis patients of Birjand Special Diseases Center in 2019.
 Methods: In this descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study, using the census method, all the dialysis patients visiting Birjand Special Diseases Center, Iran, were examined. A three-part questionnaire was used to collect information in this study. The first part deals with patient demographic information (i.e., age, gender, marital status, degree, occupation, duration of dialysis per week, and medical history), the second part includes the DASS21 standard questionnaire, and the third part comprises the Ellison-Palutzian spiritual health standard questionnaire. Data analysis was performed by the Mann-Whitney, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation coefficient.
 Results: In this study, 119 hemodialysis patients were studied, of which 77 (64.7%) were male. The mean depression, anxiety, and stress scores of the participants in the study were 18.8 ± 7.52, 16.43 ± 7.13, and 19.36 ± 8.31, respectively. The mean spiritual health of the patients studied was 82.37 ± 12.12. The results showed a significant (P < 0.05) inverse relationship between spiritual health and depression, anxiety, and stress in the patients studied.
 Conclusions: The findings showed that patients with higher spiritual health scores experienced less anxiety, stress, and depression. Thus, more focus should be on improving the spiritual health of hemodialysis patients by medical staff in the process of admitting and dealing with them in hospitals and medical centers.

Hemodi̇yali̇z Hastalarinda Depresyon Ve Manevi̇ İyi̇ Oluş: Kesi̇tsel Bi̇r Çalişma

“…Depression is one of the psychological disorders that impairs the functionality of individuals. [21] Most of the patients participating in our study do not have social support. It has been found that the social supports given are mostly in the form of meeting physical needs.…”

“…It was found that patients with high mental well-being showed lower depressive symptoms; our results are in agreement with the sources. [21,35] The psychiatric disorder that causes the most hopelessness is known as depression. Although hope has no healing power, it encourages the patient to continue the fight and seek clinical improvement.…”

“…There are many sources that support our finding. [20,21,37] Women may be more prone to depression due to factors such as lack of social support, emotional personality structure and dependent roles. The finding that religious or spiritual beliefs are more important for female participants has been demonstrated in previous studies, both in dialysis patients and in broader defined populations, [47,48] and our study is consistent with other study results.…”