Spirituality of cardiac surgery patients

Introduction:
Cardiac surgery is an inherent treatment method of patients with cardiovascular diseases including valvular heart disease, ischaemic heart disease, and heart failure. Patients in the perioperative period require adequate spiritual care by the nursing staff, which pro-motes effective coping with stress and is an important factor in ensuring a good quality of life after surgery. The aim of the study was an assessment of the spirituality of patients after cardiac surgeries (coronary artery bypass grafting, aortic valve implantation, left ventricular assist device [LVAD] implantation, and heart transplantation) and an examination of its relation-ship with selected socio-demographic variables and social support.

Material and methods:
The study was conducted with the use of the diagnostic survey method, estimation method, survey technique, and scaling technique. The study involved 102 patients after cardiac surgery. The following standardised tools were used: Self-Description Questionnaire, Spirituality Scale (SD-36 Questionnaire), Multidimensional Perceived Social Support Scale, and the author’s own questionnaire. The following statistical tests were used to analyse the results: U Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA, and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient, and a multiple regression model was performed. A significance level of p < 0.05 was assumed.

Results:
The participants achieved high scores on both spirituality scales. Patients in a relationship, living in the countryside, whose cardiac surgery (coronary artery bypass grafting, aortic valve implantation, LVAD implantation, heart transplant) was conducted without complications, and having social support had a higher level of spirituality in comparison to patients who were single, living in the city, without social support, and whose surgery was conducted with complications.

Conclusions:
The assessed cardiac surgery patients were characterised by a high level of spirituality. The relationship between marital status, place of residence, the course of surgery, social support, and the spirituality of the respondents was shown. Nurses should ensure care for the spiritual side of patients during nursing care.