Spiritual beliefs may affect outcome of bereavement: prospective study

doi:10.1136/bmj.324.7353.1551

BMJ 2002;324:1551 ( 29 June )

Papers

Spiritual beliefs may affect outcome of bereavement: prospective study

Kiri Walsh, research fellow, ^a Michael King, professor, ^a Louise Jones, research physician in specialist palliative care, ^b Adrian Tookman, consultant physician in specialist palliative care, ^b Robert Blizard, medical statistician. ^a

^a Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Science, Royal Free Campus, Royal Free and University College Medical School, London NW3 2PF, ^b Edenhall Marie Curie Centre, London NW3 5NS

Correspondence to: M King m.king{at}rfc.ucl.ac.uk

Objective: To explore the relation between spiritualbeliefs and resolution ofbereavement.
Design: Prospective cohort study of peopleabout to be bereaved with follow up continuing for 14 months afterthedeath.
Setting: A Marie Curie centre for specialistpalliative care inLondon.
Participants: 135 relatives and close friends ofpatients admitted to the centre with terminalillness.
Main outcome measure: Core bereavement items, a standardised measureof grief, measured 1, 9, and 14 months after the patients'death.
Results: People reporting no spiritual beliefhad not resolved their grief by 14 months after the death. Participantswith strong spiritual beliefs resolved their grief progressivelyover the same period. People with low levels of belief showedlittle change in the first nine months but thereafter resolvedtheir grief. These differences approached significance in a repeatedmeasures analysis of variance (F=2.42, P=0.058). Strength of spiritualbelief remained an important predictor after the explanatory powerof relevant confounding variables was controlled for. At 14 monthsthe difference between the group with no beliefs and the combinedlow and high belief groups was 7.30 (95% confidence interval 0.86to 13.73) points on the core bereavement items scale. Adjustingfor confounders in the final model reduced this difference to4.64 (1.04 to 10.32)points.
Conclusion: People who profess stronger spiritualbeliefs seem to resolve their grief more rapidly and completelyafter the death of a close person than do people with no spiritualbeliefs.

What is already known on this topic
Religious belief affects outcome of bereavement in families coping with the death of a child and in older people who are bereaved of a spouse

Research is often retrospective, and causal connections are difficult to establish

What this study adds
People who profess stronger spiritual beliefs seem to resolve their grief more rapidly and completely after the death of a person close to them than do people with no spiritual beliefs

Most palliative care units involve the family members and friends of the person dying; attention to spiritual matters may be an important component of this work

© BMJ 2002

CiteULike

Complore

Connotea

Del.icio.us Add to Digg

Digg

Technorati What's this?

Spiritual belief resolves grief
BMJ 2002 324: 0. [Full Text]

This article has been cited by other articles:

Griffin, J. P., Koch, K. A., Nelson, J. E., Cooley, M. E. (2007). Palliative Care Consultation, Quality-of-Life Measurements, and Bereavement for End-of-Life Care in Patients With Lung Cancer: ACCP Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guidelines (2nd Edition). Chest 132: 404S-422S [Abstract] [Full text]
Becker, G., Xander, C. J., Blum, H. E., Lutterbach, J., Momm, F., Gysels, M., Higginson, I. J (2007). Do religious or spiritual beliefs influence bereavement? A systematic review. Palliat Med 21: 207-217 [Abstract]
Brown, S. L., Nesse, R. M., House, J. S., Utz, R. L. (2004). Religion and Emotional Compensation: Results from a Prospective Study of Widowhood. Pers Soc Psychol Bull 30: 1165-1174 [Abstract]
Speck, P., Higginson, I., Addington-Hall, J. (2004). Spiritual needs in health care. BMJ 329: 123-124 [Full text]
Kirby, S. E., Coleman, P. G., Daley, D. (2004). Spirituality and Well-Being in Frail and Nonfrail Older Adults. J. Gerontol. B Psychol. Sci. Soc. Sci. 59: P123-P129 [Abstract] [Full text]