The relationship between spiritual well-being  and quality of life - Illness perception as a mediator variable

Diah Nurayu Kusumawardani^a* and Sali Rahadi Asih^b

^aFaculty of Psychology, University of Indonesia, Depok, Indonesia; ^bFaculty of Psychology, University of Indonesia, Depok, Indonesia

diahnurayu@gmail.com; sali.radahi@ui.ac.id

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Background. Heart disease patients is susceptible to mental health problem. Depression is the mental health problem which very common in patients with heart disease. Patients feel isolated and also they lose their self-confidence. This poor mental health condition can affect their health which it can decrease patients’ health condition and make their disease getting worse. Besides that, depression restricts patients’ to live their life optimally. Depression is caused by their negative perception of their illness. In that condition, patients then produce negative emotion such as anxiety, anger, and so on. Patients’ mental health problem can be improved by increasing their quality of life. Previous researches showed that mental health condition had strong association with quality of life. By increasing their quality of life, patients’ can improve their mental health condition so they can live their life optimally. It is caused by their negative emotion and anxiety is reduced. To increase quality of life, there are many factors influencing it, but only two factors which really influence it significantly. They are spiritual well-being and illness perception. Based on previous researches, high spiritual well-being people makes them able to adapt in every situation. For heart disease patients, spiritual well-being makes patients accept to their health condition because they already find their meaning of life. This condition makes them change their perception about their illness which is more positive than before. By believing that this is God’s will, patients start accept their health condition and change their perception of illness. When patients are already in this situation, they don’t have any negative emotion and anxiety so they can improve their quality of life. Another factor that can influence quality of life is illness perception. Based on previous researches, positive illness perception can increase patients’ quality of life. The positive perception of illness makes patients don’t think about their negative consequences of their illness. They only focus on what they can do to optimize their health condition by doing treatments, taking regular medication, and doing healthy lifestyle. This situation makes them having no worry about their health and it can improve their mental health condition. Having better mental health condition affects patients’ quality of life which is better. Based on this explanation, researchers are trying to show that interaction between spiritual well-being and quality of life is mediated by illness perception. The aim of this research is to identify the relationship between spiritual well-being, illness perception, and quality of life in patients with heart disease. Besides that, researchers want to prove that illness perception is a significant mediator variable in this relationship.

Methods. To measure those variables, the researchers use FACIT-SP to measure spiritual well-being, Brief IPQ to measure illness perception, and SF-12 to measure quality of life. All measurements are already translated to Bahasa Indonesia. This research is a cross-sectional study which involves adult heart disease patients with minimum one year heart disease. The researchers get the participants by spreading the questionnaires to relatives, colleagues, and friends. The questionnaires are spread through online social media and meeting the participant directly in hospital or clinic. Before filling the questionnaire, they must sign the agreement by giving their signature on informed consent. After filling questionnaire, all participants get a mug as a reward.

Results. The result will be discussed

Conclusions. -

Added-Values. This is a preliminary study before giving the real intervention to heart disease patients. By doing this research, the result of the research can be a reference for health worker when they conduct the treatment to heart disease patients. Health workers will know how important spiritual well-being and illness perception to be applied on their treatment to heart disease patients. Besides that, health workers can increase their knowledge about some emerging issues on patients with heart disease.

Keywords: quality of life; spiritual well-being; illness perception

Word count: 624