Journal of Torbat Heydariyeh University of Medical Sciences

Background & Aim: Caregivers of children with cancer play a main and fundamental role in providing care. Although paying attention to spiritual needs of caregivers is one of the indispensable components of holistic care in nursing, in recent years it has been less considered.  This research aimed to investigate the effect of Spiritual education on depression, anxiety and stress (DAS) of caregivers of children with leukemia.

Method: This clinical trial study comprised 60 caregivers of children with leukemia. Intervention group received spiritual intervention for 5 sessions of 60 minutes based on the Richards and Bergin pattern. Research instruments consisted of demographic data questionnaire, spiritual health questionnaire, DASS questionnaire which were filled before and after the intervention. Data were analyzed using SPSS 16.

Results: the mean and standard deviation of age in control and experimental groups were 40±6.9 and 35.7±6.2, respectively.  Findings show that in the experimental group, DAS scores reduced after education (p˂0.05), while no reduction was observed in the control group in this regard (p˃0.05). Moreover, in experimental group, spiritual health after education significantly increased compared to pre-education stage (p˂0.001).

Conclusion: Due to the positive impact of spiritual support on caregivers' health level, implementing educational interventions for caregivers are recommended because of low cost and more effectiveness.