The relationship between the spiritual well-being status of palliative care patients and their coping with pain

This study was conducted in a descriptive, cross-sectional and relational way to evaluate the relationship between the spiritual well-being of palliative care patients and their coping with pain. The study was conducted with 230 patients who were hospitalized in palliative care unit of a city hospital and agreed to participate in the study. Ethics committee approval, institutional and patients' written permissions were obtained for the study. Before starting the study, the purpose of the study was explained to the patients and their verbal consent and signatures were taken. The data were collected using the introductory characteristics form, the Pain Coping Questionnaire and the Spiritual Well-Being Scale. Number, percentage, minimum and maximum values, mean and standard deviation, student t test, variance analysis, Spearman correlation analysis, Pearson correlation analysis were used to evaluate the data. The average age of the patients was 54,62±14,66, the average length of stay in the clinic was 16.77±4.38, and 56.5% of them were women. 61,7% of the patients stated that they needed spiritual care. When the distribution of the scores obtained by the patients from the sub-scales with the pain coping questionnaire was examined, it was found that the mean score of the sub-dimension of self-coping was 17,47±5,47, the mean score of the helplessness sub-dimension was 15,62±3,13, the mean score of the conscious cognitive interventions sub-dimension of the patients was 9,79±2,68, and the mean score of the medical remedy seeking sub-dimension was 15,31±2,66. A statistically significant difference was found between the mean scores of the patients participating in the study in the sub-dimensions of SC, Helplessness, MRS and CCI according to age, employment status, marital status, and employment status (p <0,05). It was determined that the general total score of the Spiritual Well-being Scale was 24,03±24, the meaning sub-dimension score was 8.50±9.00, the peace sub-dimension score was 6,33±6,00 and the belief sub-dimension score was 9,20±9,00. A statistically significant difference was found between the general total of the spiritual well-being scale according to marital status, employment status, place of residence, family type, chronic disease status, and level of addiction in daily living activities and the mean scores obtained from the meaning, peace and belief sub-dimensions of the patients participating in the study (p<0,05). It was found in the study that there was a moderate positive correlation between the Meaning and SC scores of the patients (r=0,641), a moderately negative correlation between the Meaning and Helplessness scores (r=-0,621), a moderately positive correlation between Peace and SC scores (r=0,646), and a moderately negative correlation between the Peace and Helplessness score (r=-0,686). As a result of the study, it is recommended that nurses should provide pain management and integrate spiritual care into nursing care in order to increase the spiritual well-being of the patients. Keywords: Palliative Care, Pain, Patient, Coping with Pain, Spiritual Well-Being, Spirituality