Caregiver Burden and Spiritual Well-Being in Family Caregiver of Ostomy Patients

The aim of this study was to examine care burden among family members of persons living with an ostomy; we also examined the relationship between care burden and spiritual well-being.

Descriptive, quantitative, and cross-sectional.

The study was conducted in an ostomy clinic located in Tehran, Iran. This sample comprised 250 family caregivers of patients with an intestinal ostomy. Convenience sampling method was used.

Participants completed a questionnaire that included items querying demographic and relevant clinical data; the questionnaire also contained 2 validated instruments that were used to measure caregiver burden (CB) and spiritual well-being (SWB). The Guest and Novak Caregiver Inventory was used to assess CB; possible scores for this validated instrument range from 24 to 120. Higher scores indicate a higher level of family CB. The Paloutzian and Ellison Spiritual Well-Being Scale was used to assess participants' SWB. Scores obtained from this scale range from 20 to 120; higher scores indicate a higher level of SWB.

The sample comprised 250 respondents; their mean age for caregivers was 35.1 (SD 7.6) years. More than half (n = 143, 57.2%) were men. The mean score of the CB was 85.4 (SD 3.9). The mean score of SWB was 82.3 (SD 10.5). Pearson correlation coefficient revealed an inverse and significant correlation between the mean score of CB and the mean score of their SWB (r = -0.308; P = .001).

Caregivers of patients with ostomy experience a high level of burden that is related to their SWB level. A caregiver with a higher level of SWB reported a lower level of burden.