Spiritual health and life satisfaction in older adults in Shahrekord hospitals, 2013

Abstract

Background and aims: It is in high importance to pay attention to different aspects of health and well-being in the elderly age. So, this study was conducted with the aim of investigating the association between spiritual health and life satisfaction in the elderly hospitalized in Shahrekord hospitals. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 308 elderly hospitalized in medical internal and surgical wards were enrolled into study by convenience sampling in 2013. The tools of gathering data were Spiritual Well-Being Scale and Life satisfaction Scale questionnaires. After collecting data, they were analyzed using SPSS software and independent t-test and one-way ANOVA tests. Results: Spiritual health in 51.3% of the elderly was low and the mean score for spiritual health was 86.16±18.61. Spiritual health was significantly associated with marital status, age, and number of children (P≤0.001). Life satisfaction was high (slightly satisfied, satisfied and very satisfied) in 63.9% of the elderly with mean score of 20.80±5.8 Life satisfaction was associated with demographic characteristics such as gender (P=0.002), social status (P=0.001), and number of children (P=0.001). There was a positive, significant association between spiritual health and life satisfaction (P≤0.001). Conclusion: Over half of the elderly reported their spiritual health in low level, but most of them had a high level of life satisfaction. Therefore, it seems necessary to conduct religious interventions to promote spiritual health in hospitalized elderly.

Keywords

• elderly
• spiritual health
• life satisfaction