Nahed Alquwez

Influence of religiosity and spiritual coping on health-related quality of life in Saudi haemodialysis patients.

Introduction: Patients undergoing haemodialysis (HD) are frequently troubled by psychiatric disorders and coping problems, which can pose a serious threat to their physical and mental well‐being. Using religious and spiritual interventions as a means of coping with physical and mental challenges is widely recognized. Although this topic has been well studied, in the Middle East regions, where Islam is the dominant religion, studies are limited. Thus, this study was performed to explore the influence of religiosity and spiritual coping (SC) on the health‐related quality of life (HRQoL) of Saudi patients receiving HD. Methods: A total of 168 HD patients from three hospitals in Saudi Arabia formed a convenient sample for this descriptive, cross‐sectional hospital‐based study. Data collection was done via questionnaire‐guided interviews using the Muslim Religious Index as well as the Arabic Versions of the Spiritual Coping Strategies scale and Quality of Life Index Dialysis. Regression analysis enabled identification of the factors influencing HRQoL. Findings: Older patients were found to reveal higher levels of religiosity, whereas the younger ones expressed a lesser degree of religious and nonreligious coping. Unemployed patients reported greater involvement in religious practices (RP) and more frequently used religious coping than those employed. The latter showed lower intrinsic religiosity and nonreligious coping usage than the unemployed. The respondents reported the greatest satisfaction scores on their psychological/spiritual dimension and the least scores on the social and economic dimension. Therefore, the factors that could influence the HRQoL of the respondents were identified as involvement in RP, intrinsic religious beliefs, religious coping usage and age. Discussion: This study revealed significant findings regarding the importance of religiosity and SC on the HRQoL of the Saudi HD patients. Therefore, it has been highly recommended to integrate religiosity into the health‐care process for such patients to facilitate the achievement of overall optimum health levels.

VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY OF THE SPIRITUAL COPING STRATEGIES SCALE ARABIC VERSION IN SAUDI PATIENTS UNDERGOING HAEMODIALYSIS.

BACKGROUND Patients often resort to religious and spiritual activities to cope with physical and mental challenges. The effect of spiritual coping on overall health, adaptation and health-related quality of life among patients undergoing haemodialysis (HD) is well documented. Thus, it is essential to establish a valid and reliable instrument that can assess both the religious and non-religious coping methods in patients undergoing HD. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to assess the validity and reliability of the Spiritual Coping Strategies Scale Arabic version (SCS-A) in Saudi patients undergoing HD. METHOD A convenience sample of 60 Saudi patients undergoing HD was recruited for this descriptive, cross-sectional study. Data were collected between May and June 2015. Forward-backward translation was used to formulate the SCS-A. The SCS-A, Muslim Religiosity Scale and the Quality of Life Index Dialysis Version III were used to procure the data. Internal consistency reliability, stability reliability, factor analysis and construct validity tests were performed. Analyses were set at the 0.05 level of significance. RESULTS The SCS-A showed an acceptable internal consistency and strong stability reliability over time. The EFA produced two factors (non-religious and religious coping). Satisfactory construct validity was established by the convergent and divergent validity and known-groups method. CONCLUSION The SCS-A is a reliable and valid tool that can be used to measure the religious and non-religious coping strategies of patients undergoing HD in Saudi Arabia and other Muslim and Arabic-speaking countries.

Psychometric Evaluation of the Spiritual Coping Strategies Scale Arabic Version for Saudi Nursing Students

Aim: To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Spiritual Coping Strategies scale Arabic version (SCS-A) in a sample of nursing students in Saudi Arabia. Method: This study had a cross-sectional design with a convenience sample of 100 nursing students in Saudi Arabia. Using the SCS-A and the Muslim Religiosity Scale for data collection, data were analyzed to establish the reliability and validity of the SCS-A. Findings: Good internal consistency reliability (Cronbach’s α > .70) and stability reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient > .80) were observed. Two dominant factors were extracted from the scale items, the nonreligious coping strategies and religious coping strategies, which accounted for 35.5% and 32.7% of the variance, respectively. The religious coping subscale exhibited a strong positive correlation with the religious practices subscale of the Muslim Religious Involvement Scale (r = .45, p < .001) and total religiosity score (r = .48, p < .001) as well as a weak positive correlation with the intrinsic religious beliefs subscale (r = .25, p < .05). No significant relationship was found between nonreligious coping subscale and the Muslim Religious Involvement Scale. Conclusion: The SCS-A exhibited an acceptable validity and reliability, supporting its sound psychometric properties with respect to the responses from Saudi nursing students.