Assessment of loneliness and spiritual well-being in chronically ill and healthy adults.

Abstract

Characteristics of loneliness and spiritual well-being were studied in 64 chronically ill adults with rheumatoid arthritis and 64 randomly selected healthy adults to determine if a relationship existed between the variables as well as to determine if there was a significant difference in loneliness and spiritual well-being between the ill and healthy groups. The Abbreviated Loneliness Scale (ABLS) and the Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWB), with the subscales of Existential Well-Being (EWB) and Religious Well-Being (RWB), were used. The predicted negative relationship between loneliness and spiritual well-being was supported in both the ill and the healthy group, with r =−.267 for the ill group and r =−.387 for the healthy group. There was no significant difference in loneliness between the two groups. There was a difference in SWB in that the III subjects had higher SWB ( P <.01) and higher RWB ( P <.001) than the healthy subjects. No differences in EWB were found. A canonical analysis of data from the III subjects indicated that persons with low loneliness tended to be young and have very low RWB and high EWB. Older females had high RWB. Current and ongoing pain state scores were then included to determine their relationship to the multiple variables; however, pain scores did not meet the. 40 level for interpretation.