THE SPIRITUAL HEALTH STATE OF THE ILL AND ITS CONNECTION TO THE MEDICAL CONCLUSIONS ON SOMATIC HEALTH AT THE HEALTH RESORT

Abstract

According to the definition of the World Health Organization (WHO) of health, spirituality is one of the constituents of the person’s health. At this moment there are very few knowledge concerning the interrelation of spiritual and somatic health of the person. The objective – to estimate the spiritual health state of people, who suffer from chronic diseases, at the health resort stage of rehabilitation and to establish its connection to medical characteristics of somatic health. Methods. One hundred and fourty-eight ill, who have been suffering from chronic diseases and have been admitted for the treatment to the climatic resort. Biological, social and general medical characteristics, as well as the spiritual health state of the examined have been studied with the help of a special questionnaire. Results. All the examined at the health resort ill have been suffering from chronic diseases for a long period of time. The main diseases have been: cerebral atherosclerosis – 17.6% of cases, hypertensive disease – 17.6%, angina – 16.9%, diffuse cardiosclerosis – 15.5%, bronchial asthma – 14.9%, chronic non-obstructive bronchitis – 6.1%, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – 4.7%, vegetovascular dystonia – 2.0%, bronchiectatic disease – 1.4%, chronic pyelonephritis – 1.4%, other diseases – 2.1% of cases. Duration of the main disease on the average has been 9.92±8.38 (Ме: 7 (4; 15)) years, and the relapse rate during the last year – 1.43±1.75 (Ме: 1 (0; 2)) times. Complications of the diseases have been absent in 50.0% of the ill, indolent – 31.1%, moderately expressed – 14.2% and prominently expressed – in 4.7% of the ill. 61.5% of the examined ill have had the unfavorable state (low and average levels) of spiritual health. The state of spirituality of chronically ill people to a certain degree has depended on the state of their somatic health, which have been indicated by the presence of the connection (associations) between the answers to a series of questions in the questionnaire, which has described spiritual health, and medical conclusions and characteristics. The answers to 13 questions of the given questionnaire have been 29 times connected to the 14 studied medical characteristics of the ill. The answers to the questions of the questionnaire have more often been associated to the presence of nervous system diseases (6 dependencies), relapse rate of the main disease (5 dependencies), quantity of the affected organs (3 dependencies), presence of oncologic diseases (3 dependencies), severity of patient's condition (3 dependencies), duration of the main disease (2 dependencies) and presence of metabolic disorders (2 dependencies) in the ill. Conclusions. 61.5% of the ill who have been suffering from chronic diseases, and have been admitted to the health resort treatment have the unfavorable state (low and average levels) of spiritual health. The state of spirituality of chronically ill people to a certain degree depends on the state of their somatic health. Giving the health resort treatment requires the use of the programs of the formation and maintenance of the person’s spiritual health.