Does the Spiritual Well-Being of Chronic Hemodialysis Patients Differ from that of Pre-dialysis Chronic Kidney Disease Patients?

Abstract

Spiritual well-being is viewed as an essential component of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in the modernized biopsychosocial-spiritual model of health. Understanding spiritual well-being should lead to better treatment plans from the patients’ point of view, and improved patient adherence. There are numerous studies of traditional HRQOL, physical, mental, and social well-being; however, studies of spiritual well-being in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients are limited. Thus, this study compared spiritual well-being of chronic hemodialysis patients and pre-dialysis CKD patients. A total of 31 chronic hemodialysis and 63 pre-dialysis CKD patients were asked for consent and then interviewed for spiritual well-being using the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy–Spiritual Well-Being (FACIT-Sp). Analysis of covariance was applied to compare FACIT-Sp scores between pre-dialysis CKD and chronic hemodialysis groups that were adjusted by patient characteristics. The FACIT-Sp scores of pre-dialysis CKD patients were non-significantly greater than those of chronic hemodialysis patients after adjustment for gender, age, and marital status. However, all FACIT-Sp scores of males were significantly lower than those of females [FACIT Meaning −1.59 (p = 0.024), FACIT Peace −2.37 (p = 0.004), FACIT Faith −2.87 (p = 0.001), FACIT Total Score −6.83 (p = 0.001)]. The spiritual well-being did not significantly differ by stages of chronic kidney disease; however, patient gender was associated with spiritual well-being instead. To improve spiritual well-being, researchers should consider patient gender as a significant factor.