The Effect of Spiritual Self-Care Group Therapy on Life Expectancy in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease: An Educational Trial

Background and Objective: Spiritual self-care is defined as a set of exercises based on spirituality to promote healing in times of sickness and health. Patients' perception of the role of spiritual self-care can lead to chronic disease management. Life expectancy is an important criterion to reflect the mortality impact on longevity and disease in a population. Studies have shown that patients need to spirituality is important in the presence of life-threatening diseases; accordingly, the present study aimed to investigate the effect of spiritual self-care group therapy on life expectancy in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). Materials and Methods: This study is an educational trial which was conducted on 111 patients with CAD, discharged from the intensive care unit of Ali-Ibn-Abitalib hospital in Rafsanjan in 2015. Samples were randomly allocated to two groups including an intervention and a control group. Spirituality workshop sessions (three sessions of one and a half hours one day per week) were administered for intervention group. Millers life expectancy questionnaire was completed by both groups before and after study. Data were analyzed using independent t test, paired t test, and chi-square test. Results: The results showed that the mean life expectancy a week after the intervention was significantly higher in the intervention group compared to the control group (176.76 +43.38 vs. 159.50+41.87, p=0.035). Moreover, mean score of life expectancy (after intervention) had significantly increased in the intervention group compared to before intervention (the mean and standard deviationof changes were 13.35±14.07, p less-than 0.001). Conclusion: Given the positive effect of spiritual self-care on patients life expectancy in the present study, nurses are recommended to pay attention to spiritual dimensions of patients and include it in their routine care. Key words: Life expectancy, Coronary artery disease, Spiritual care Funding: This research was funded by Yazd University of Medical Sciences, Iran Conflict of interest: None declared. Ethical approval: The Ethical Committee of Yazd University of Medical Sciences, approved the study How to cite this article: Salimi T, Tavangar H, Shokripour S, Ashrafi H. The Effect of Spiritual Self-Care Group Therapy on Life Expectancy in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease: An Educational Trial. J Rafsanjan Univ Med Sci 2017; 15(10): 917-28. [Farsi]