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Holly B. Orozco, DrPH, School of Nursing: Health Science Program, California State University, 5151 State University Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90032, (323) 343-4740, horozco2@calstatela.edu
The purpose of this study was to determine the association between different aspects of spiritual function and health-related quality of life in a population of older adults with chronic illness. A sample of 500 older male veterans were randomly selected from a larger sub-sample of six Veterans Hospital Administration facilities across the U.S. Analysis was conducted on 232 returned and completed self-administered questionnaires including the MOS SF-36 used to measure health-related quality of life (Ware & Sherbourne, 1992) and 11 items used to measure spiritual function (Rosenfeld, 1997). Although confirmatory factor analysis on the spiritual items indicated that the proposed model for spiritual functioning was a poor fit to the data, further exploratory factor analysis on the spiritual function items yielded two significant factors. Strong significant relationships between spiritual function items and health-related quality of life were observed. While health-related quality of life indicators often include emotional and mental health domains, spiritual function is often overlooked when assessing over-all health and well-being in older populations with chronic illness. Spiritual function is a separate, yet equally important domain in health-related quality of life measures.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to
Keywords: Quality of Life, Religion
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.