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The Beneficial Role of Spiritual Counseling in Heart Failure Patients

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Abstract

To ascertain the beneficial role of spiritual counseling in patients with chronic heart failure. This is a pilot study evaluating the effects of adjunct spiritual counseling on quality of life (QoL) outcomes in patients with heart failure. Patients were assigned to “religious” or “non-religious” counseling services based strictly on their personal preferences and subsequently administered standardized QoL questionnaires. A member of the chaplaincy or in-house volunteer organization visited the patient either daily or once every 2 days throughout the duration of their hospitalization. All patients completed questionnaires at baseline, at 2 weeks, and at 3 months. Each of the questionnaires was totaled, with higher scores representing positive response, except for one survey measure where lower scores represent improvement (QIDS-SR16). Twenty-three patients (n = 23, age 57 ± 11, 11 (48 %) male, 12 (52 %) female, mean duration of hospital stay 20 ± 15 days) completed the study. Total mean scores were assessed on admission, at 2 weeks and at 3 months. For all patients in the study, the mean QIDS-SR16 scores were 8.5 (n = 23, SD = 3.3) versus 6.3 (n = 18, SD = 3.5) versus 7.3 (n = 7, SD = 2.6). Mean FACIT-Sp-Ex (version 4) scores were 71.1 (n = 23, SD = 15.1) versus 74.7 (n = 18, SD = 20.9) versus 81.4 (n = 7, SD = 8.8). The mean MSAS scores were 2.0 (n = 21, SD = 0.6) versus 1.8 (n = 15, SD = 0.7) versus 2.5 (n = 4, SD = 0.7). Mean QoL Enjoyment and Satisfaction scores were 47.2 % (n = 23, SD = 15.0 %) versus 53.6 % (n = 18, SD = 16.4 %) versus 72.42 % (n = 7, SD = 22 %). The addition of spiritual counseling to standard medical management for patients with chronic heart failure patients appears to have a positive impact on QoL.

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Conflict of interest

This study was sponsored by the Office of Research Compliance at Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California. The authors have no additional conflicts of interest to disclose.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cedars Sinai Heart Institute, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, 8631 West Third Street, Ste, 1017 East, Los Angeles, CA, 90048, USA

    Rigved Tadwalkar, Dioma U. Udeoji, Denise LaChance, Anita Phan, David Nguyen & Ernst R. Schwarz

  2. Cedars Sinai Department of Palliative Care, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Dioma U. Udeoji, Denise LaChance & Parag Bharadwaj

  3. Cedars Sinai Department of Spiritual Care Services, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Rabbi Jason Weiner, Father Lester Avestruz & Denise LaChance

Authors
  1. Rigved Tadwalkar
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  2. Dioma U. Udeoji
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  3. Rabbi Jason Weiner
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  4. Father Lester Avestruz
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  5. Denise LaChance
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  6. Anita Phan
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  7. David Nguyen
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  8. Parag Bharadwaj
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  9. Ernst R. Schwarz
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Correspondence to Ernst R. Schwarz.

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Tadwalkar, R., Udeoji, D.U., Weiner, R.J. et al. The Beneficial Role of Spiritual Counseling in Heart Failure Patients. J Relig Health 53, 1575–1585 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-014-9853-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-014-9853-z

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