THE EFFECT OF THE SPIRITUAL STATES OF HEMODIALYSIS PATIENTS ON THEIR LEVELS OF HOPELESSNESS

Aim: This study was conducted descriptively to determine the effects of the spiritual orientation of hemodialysis patients on their levels of hopelessness. Method: The study sample consisted of 100 hemodialysis patients treated at Ondokuz Mayıs University Health Application and Research Center (OMUHARC) hemodialysis unit, nephrology service and City Health Center affiliated to OMUHARC between July 2017 and May 2018. The data were collected using patient introductory information forms, Spiritual Orientation Scale (SOS) and Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS). The compliance of the data to normal distribution was examined using the Shapiro Wilk test. Kruskal Wallis and Mann Whitney U tests were used to compare data that did not conform to normal distribution. Spearman correlation analysis was used to examine the relationship between the sub-dimensions of the scales. Result: The patients' average age was 56.7±14.4, 59% were male, 80% were married, 53% were diagnosed with chronic renal failure 1-5 years ago, 75% had been receiving hemodialysis treatment for 1-5 years and 63% had another chronic disease. The mean total score of SOS was 99.57±15.51. The mean BHS total score was 5.68 ± 4.43; while the emotions and expectations about the future sub-dimension mean total score was 1.2 ± 1.29, that of the motivation loss sub-dimension was 2.56±1.89, whereas that of the hope sub-dimension was 1.91±1.82. A moderately negative significant correlation was found between SOS and BHS (r: -0.385, p