Spiritual well-being as predictor of health behavior efficacy in older patients of selected Medical University Hospitals

Abstract

Spiritual health is one of the aspects of health that is necessary to pay attention to this aspect. Spiritual health of the aged is associated with several factors which in particular may affect other aspects of their health; therefore, this study also sought to examine the relationship between spiritual health and self-effi cacy of health behaviors in the aged. In this study, statistical population was patients aged 60 years and older who were hospitalized in two hospitals affi liated with Isfahan University of medical sciences. The subjects were recruited through convenience sampling method. The data was collected by a three-part questionnaire consisted of a) demographic and health related characteristics, b) The Self Rated Abilities for Health Practices Scale (SRAHP) and c) Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS) and were analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics (mainly multiple regression analysis) in SPSS software. The subjects consisted of 210 participants (116 males, 93 females) with mean (SD) age of 72.5 (8.5) years. The results showed signifi cant relationship between health behaviors effi cacy and gender (t=2.44, df=207, p=. 16), income (F-3,F-208 =5.8, P<. 001) and education level (F-4,F-208 =9.25, P<. 001). Findings showed that the entered predictor variables were accounted for 27 of total variance (R-2) of the health behaviors effi cacy (P< 0.001, F-2,F- 207 =38.4). Spirituality may be an important explanatory factor of subjective health behavior effi cacy in older patients. Therefore, it is worthwhile for the health care professionals to take spiritual care into account as an important factor that may help the aged patients adopt healthy behaviors.