Spirituality and religiosity are associated with physical and psychological status in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Abstract

Background: Management strategies that incorporate spirituality and religiosity (S/R) have been associated with better health status in clinical populations. However, few data are available for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) to improve the traditional disease-model treatment. Aims:The objectives of this study were to evaluate the association between S/R and physical and psychological status in patients with stable COPD.Design: This is a cross-sectional study.Methods: Religiosity, spiritual well-being and S/R Coping were measured. Physical status was evaluated with the activity of daily living, dyspnoea and the impact of the disease. Psychological status was assessed with anxiety and depression symptoms and quality of life. Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated, multivariate linear regression was applied in the analyses. This study is reported following the STROBE recommendations.Results: Seventy-two patients with stable COPD (male 58%, aged 68 ± 9 years, forced expiratory volume in 1s (FEV 1 ) of 49.2 ± 19.6% predicted) were included. There was no association between S/R and activity of daily living. However, higher spiritual wellbeing and lower Negative S/R Coping was associated with reduced dyspnoea and burden of the disease. Increased S/R and lower Negative S/R Coping was also associated with less anxiety, depression and better quality of life. Multivariate linear regression showed that S/R variables explained the physical and psychological health status in people with stable COPD. Conclusions: Higher spirituality and less negative S/R Coping are associated with reduced dyspnoea, the burden of the disease, anxiety and depression symptoms, and better quality of life in patients with stable COPD.Relevance to clinical practice: Understanding how religiosity and spirituality are associated with physical and psychological features in patients with COPD may contribute to the long-term management of this patient population.

Spirituality in people with advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – challenge for more effective interventions, support, and healthcare education: Mini-review

“…religiosity measured with a Duke Religion Index (DUREL) was not associated with QoL in this study (24). Similar results were reported by other authors (22), while according to others, faith subscale of FACIT-Sp score positively correlated with the scores of Multidimensional Index of Life Quality (MILQ) (18).…”

“…Spiritual well-being of individuals with COPD has been evaluated in a number of studies (17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24) (Table 1). It was found to be similarly low among people with COPD and with inoperable lung cancer (18).…”

Resilience as a Mediator of the Association between Spirituality and Self-Management among Older People with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

“…The Function Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Scale (FACIT-SP-12) was used to assess the spirituality of COPD patients [ 27 , 28 , 47 ]. The scale contained 3 dimensions of peace, meaning, and faith, with 12 entries.…”

“…Helvaci et al [ 27 ] showed a significant positive correlation between spiritual health and medication adherence in COPD patients. Mendes et al [ 28 ] found that COPD patients with high levels of spiritual health showed less anxiety and depression, as well as better emotional functioning and disease control, suggesting better emotional management. Both medication management and emotional management are part of COPD self-management [ 29 , 30 ].…”

What Aspects of Religion and Spirituality Affect the Physical Health of Cancer Patients? A Systematic Review

“…However, as mentioned above, R/S has been studied in relation to physical health and has generally focused on the health of people with some type of physical pathology, such as respiratory disease [ 27 ], cardiovascular disease [ 28 ], or various types of chronic diseases [ 9 , 29 ]. Be that as it may, the relationships between R/S and physical health have been extensively documented [ 1 , 30 , 31 , 32 ].…”