Relationship between the spirituality of the informal caregiver and resilience in older adults with cancer

Abstract

Introduction: The increase in the number of older adults with cancer generates high rates of dependency, leading to an exponential growth in the demand for informal caregivers, which implies having to address specific care needs that are the competence of nursing and can be addressed from the spiritual sphere as proposed by the Transpersonal Human Caring Theory. Objective: To determine the relationship between informal caregiver spirituality and resilience in the older adult with cancer. Materials and Methods: This is a quantitative, correlational, non-experimental study in which 42 older adults with cancer and their informal caregivers participated. The level of spirituality of the caregivers and the level of resilience of the older adults were measured. The correlation between the variables was calculated using Spearman's ρ test. Results: The mean age of the caregivers was 49.6 ± 15.6 years, 64.3% were female, 85.7% Catholic; 73.8% reported high levels of spirituality. Regarding the older adults, their mean age was 69.9 ± 7.1 years, 59.5% were female, 88.1% Catholic; the predominant type of cancer was gastric and leukemia; 83.3% reported high resilience. A positive correlation (r=0.440, p=<0.05) was found between caregiver spirituality and older adult resilience. Conclusions: The results provide scientific support for the Theory of Transpersonal Human Caring, as it acknowledges the conception of self and spirit (spiritual transcendence) described by Jean Watson.