Paper: Influences of Spiritual Well-Being and Coping on Family Caregiver Mental Health (19th International Nursing Research Congress Focusing on Evidence-Based Practice)

Wednesday, 9 July 2008: 8:30 AM

Pi-Ming Yeh, PhD, RN , Department of Nursing, Missouri Western State University, Saint Joseph, MO

Margaret J. Bull, PhD , Nursinng, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI

Learning Objective 1: understand the relationship between family caregivers’ spiritual well-being and family caregivers’ mental health.

Learning Objective 2: understand the relationship between family caregivers’ coping strategies and family caregivers’ mental health

Statement of the Problem: Recent literature suggests the spirituality might serve as a protective factor. However, few studies explored the relationship of family caregivers' coping strategies and spiritual well-being on family caregivers' mental health. Information on these relationships can provide insights to design interventions to alleviate burden.

Objectives: To explore the relationships of coping strategies and spiritual well-being on mental health of family caregivers for elders recently hospitalized with heart failure.

Theoretical/Conceptual Framework: The theoretical framework for this study is based on a modification of the stress, coping, and adaptation model proposed by Lazarus & Folkman.

Subjects: A convenience sample of 36 primary caregivers of hospitalized patients diagnosed with heart failure was recruited from a Midwest Medical Center.

Methodology: A descriptive, correlational research design was used. Data on spiritual well-being, coping and mental health were collected using structured questionnaires with two weeks after patient's discharge from hospital.

Analysis: The analyses were conducted using the (SPSS) PC. Descriptive statistics (mean, SD, range, frequency, and percent) were used to examine the data. Pearson-Product Moment Correlation was used to test the hypotheses.

Results: The mean age of family caregivers was 60.8 years (SD = 16.1). The majority were female (72.2%), married (69.4%), Christian (91.7%) and more than half (55.6 %) had a high school education. The findings indicate that total scores of spiritual well-being had a significant inverse relationship with anxiety (p ≤ .05), depression (p ≤ .01), somatic (p ≤ .05), anger/hostility (p ≤ .05) and total scores of negative mental health symptoms (p ≤ .01). Coping strategies had a significant inverse relationship with depression (p ≤ .01), anger/hostility (p ≤ .01) and total scores of negative mental health symptoms (p ≤ .05).

Implications: Designing interventions to enhance coping and spiritual well-being might result in improved mental health for family caregivers.

See more of: Interventions to Improve Mental Health
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