Spirituality, chronic illness, and rural life

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to report the findings of an exploration of the associations among spirituality, hope, depression, social support, and well-being in rural dwelling people who have one or more chronic conditions.

Method: A mail survey was completed by 111 rural-dwelling people with chronic illness in two rural western states.

Findings: Spirituality, hope, depression, and social support had overlapping influence on well-being, although spirituality was not shown to have an independent effect. Participants reported unexpectedly high levels of hope and low levels of depression despite living with chronic illness.

Conclusions: Although spirituality did not have an independent effect, the group as a whole had active spiritual and religious lives, possibly influencing the high levels of hope and low levels of depression found.

Implications: The positive picture of rural people with chronic illness needs further investigation for possible mitigating effects of spirituality on problems associated with chronic illness.