The Relationship between Spiritual Well-Being and Quality Of Life among the Elderly People Residing in Zahedan City (South-East of Iran)

Introduction: Regarding the increasing number of elderly people, their quality of life becomes more important. Spiritual well-being is one of the most important aspects of health status which has often been neglected in some nations. This study aims to identify the relationship between spiritual well-being and quality of life among the elderly people residing of Zahedan city in 2016. Methods: This is a cross-sectional and correlational study. The study’s sample included 117 elderly people residing in Zahedan city in south-east of Iran who were recruited through Population-based cluster random sampling. The required data was collected by Spiritual Well-Being Scale of Paloutzian and Ellison and health survey questionnaire (SF36) and analyzed by Pearson correlation coefficient, ANOVA, and t-test by the use of SPSS software, version 19. Results: The mean score of quality of life was (58.2 ± 6.25). Women’s quality of life was significantly lower than men’s (p = 0.04). The mean score of spiritual well-being was (88.98 ± 7.35). Moreover, there was a positive correlation between quality of life and both spiritual (p = 0.04, r= 0.42) and religious well-being (p = 0.043, r = 0.41). Conclusion: Regarding the low levels of quality of life especially in elderly women, it is recommended that more attention should be paid to this group of the society .Awareness of the importance of spiritual well-being in taking care of these people is highly recommended.