Comparison in Spiritual Well-being and Quality of Life between Hospital and Home Hospice Patients

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to compare the spiritual well-being and quality of life between hospital and home hospice patients. METHODS: A total of 116 patients from 4 hospice hospitals in D city and P city participated in this study from January to April 2012. To measure spiritual well-being, an instrument developed by Paloutzian and Ellison (1982) and revised by Park (2005) was used. To measure quality of life, an instrument developed by Cho (1993) and revised by Sun (2003) was used. The data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics, t-test, chi2-test, and ANCOVA. RESULTS: Spiritual well-being and quality of life were higher in home hospice patients than in hospital hospice patients, but they were not statistically significant. Higher education and having religion were significantly related to higher spiritual well-being in both groups. Having religion and pain history for the past one week were significantly related to higher quality of life in both groups. CONCLUSION: For hospice patients, participation in religious activities needs to be encouraged to improve their spiritual well-being and quality of life. Assessing the hospice patients' pain history with close observation and managing the pain are suggested.