Bem-estar espiritual e felicidade em pessoas idosas institucionalizadas

Abstract

Introduction: Population aging is undeniable. Health care has improved, people live longer and the institutionalization of the elderly has become a reality. Palliative care, focusing on people needs, aim at the quality of life through the promotion of dignity and prevention and relief of all kinds of suffering. Facing the finitude of life, a privileged opportunity for interior questioning, it is important to know the reality and to know if the institutionalized elderly find a meaning and a purpose in their lives (spiritual wellbeing) and if they are happy (subjective happiness). Objectives: Evaluate the spiritual well-being and the subjective happiness of institutionalized people and analyze their relation. Materials and methods: Observational and cross-sectional study, conducted in a nursing home in Lisbon with about 100 residents. The sample consisted of 49 people over 65 years old, without cognitive changes that might be impairment for the participation in the study, evaluated through the Mini-Mental State Examination. The participants completed the Spiritual Well-being Questionnaire (SWBQ) and the Lyubomirsky and Lepper Subjective Scale of Happiness. The data were analyzed using the SPSS 24®. Results: Participants scored medium-high level of spiritual well-being (SWB) and a medium subjective happiness. The SWB variable presents a moderate positive correlation with all its dimensions – personal, community, environmental and transcendental – and with the subjective happiness. The global, personal and community SWB presents a moderate positive correlation with the subjective happiness; and the environmental SWB presents a low positive correlation. Age presents a low positive correlation with the two variables. Conclusions: The institutionalized elderly present medium happiness and SWB, which seems to correlate positively. Bearing in mind the palliative care mission, the nurses in the team should implement individualized interventions that improve the elderly spiritual well-being and happiness.

Date of Award	4 Apr 2019
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Sílvia Caldeira (Supervisor) & Manuel Luís Capelas (Supervisor)