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.