Relationship Between Spiritual Well-Being and Caregiving Burden in Family Caregivers of Patients with Multiple Sclerosis: a Correlational Study

Abstract

Multiple sclerosis has a high burden of care on the patient and their family, which can affect the family's spiritual well-being. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the relationship between spiritual well-being and caregiving burden in family caregivers of patients with multiple sclerosis. In this cross-sectional correlational study, 100 family caregivers of patients with multiple sclerosis referred to the MS Society of Hamadan in 2018 were selected through the convenience sampling method. The caregiver and patient demographic questionnaire, Paloutzian & Ellison spiritual well-being questionnaire, and Zarit care burden interview were used to collecting data. Data were analyzed using descriptive/analytical statistics and SPSS software version 16. The mean scores of spiritual well-being and family caregiver burden were 93.50 ± 16.84 and 25.50 ± 16.24, respectively. The Pearson correlation coefficient showed a significant inverse relationship between spiritual well-being and caregiving burden (p = 0.001, r = -0.48). The multiple regression test results showed that the spiritual well-being variable significantly predicts the burden of care (p = 0.0001, β = -0.311). In this study, spiritual well-being had a significant and inverse correlation with the burden of care. Therefore, to reduce the consequences of the caregiving burden, taking into account the spiritual well-being of family caregivers is accentuated.