Sense of coherence, spirituality, stress and quality of life in chronic illness.

PURPOSE To investigate the relationship between sense of coherence and spirituality and their association with perceptions of stress, and quality of life. METHODS Questionnaires mailed to nonhospitalized patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Data analyses included descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlations, multiple regressions, and ANOVA. RESULTS High sense of coherence (SOC) and spirituality were correlated with low stress and high quality of life (QoL). Neither SOC nor spirituality related significantly to objective symptom severity. In regression analyses 73.2% of the variance in QoL was explained by SOC, the FEV1/FVC ratio, and functional ability. CONCLUSIONS Psychosocial factors are important in patients' cognitive interpretations of illness. SOC and spirituality may buffer stress in the context of chronic illness.