Study: Spirituality can improve quality of life for heart failure patients

By Stephen Beech via SWNS

Spirituality can improve quality of life for heart failure patients, suggests new research.

Previous studies have also shown that spirituality can help improve the quality of life for people with chronic diseases such as cancer.

The new study concludes that spirituality should be considered a "potential target" for palliative care interventions.

Study lead author Doctor Rachel Tobin, of Duke University Hospital in Durham, North Carolina, said: “Patients who have heart failure experience a poorer quality of life compared to their peers, with high levels of depression, anxiety and spiritual distress.

“Contributing to diminished quality of life is the fact that heart failure, unlike many other chronic diseases, is very unpredictable and can lead to hopelessness, isolation and altered self-image.”

The American College of Cardiology and other major medical bodies recommend palliative care for heart failure patients.

Dr. Tobin said: "Spirituality is a core domain of palliative care, with the goal of identifying and addressing spiritual concerns and providing patients with appropriate spiritual and religious resources.

"However, limited research has been conducted on spirituality’s impact on patients with heart failure, and there are no known tools designed to measure it."

She says spirituality is hard to define but referenced several definitions that describe spirituality as how individuals find meaning and purpose in life, which can be separate from religious beliefs.

For instance, the Institute of Medicine defines spirituality as “the needs and expectations which humans have to find meaning, purpose and value in their life."

It adds: "Such needs can be specifically religious, but even people who have no religious faith or are not members of an organized religion have belief systems that give their lives meaning and purpose.”

The research team conducted a review of 47 articles in order to explore the current knowledge of spirituality in heart failure patients.

Dr. Tobin said there were around 10 varying instruments used to measure spirituality, some simple, others complex.

In one trial, spiritual well-being improved in patients randomized to a palliative care intervention compared to usual care. Patients allocated to palliative care had an increased quality of life. They were also found to have lower levels of anxiety and depression.

Another study found that after a 12-week mail-based psychosocial intervention, patients had higher quality of life, as well as less depression and searching for meaning.

Of the 33 patients included, 85.7 percent felt that the intervention was worthwhile. In a pilot study, spiritual counseling was associated with improved quality of life, although there was no control group to determine if the effect was significant.

Dr. Tobin said: “The literature suggests not only can spirituality improve quality of life for the patient, it can help support caregivers and potentially help heart failure patients from needing to be readmitted to the hospital."

She added: “What we have suggested and are now doing is developing a spirituality screening tool, similar to ones used to screen for depression.

"This can be used to identify heart failure patients in palliative care who are at risk for spiritual distress.

"However, this is just a start. More research needs to be done.”

The findings were published in the journal Heart Failure.