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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 spiritualitywas not shown to have an independent effect. Participants reported unexpectedly high levels of hope and lowlevels 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. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Spirituality plays a powerful role in cancer treatment and recovery; it has been identified by hospitalized patients as one of their top priorities of care. However, health care providers struggle to find ways to address the spirituality of their patients. The purposes of this study were to discover what spirituality means for men with prostate cancer and how it influences their treatment. Eleven men, ages 54 to 71, with prostate cancer were interviewed within several days following radical prostatectomy with bilateral lymph node staging. This grounded theory methodology generated three categories of spirituality: (a) praying, (b) receiving support, and (c) coping with cancer. The basic social process, coping with cancer, occurred in four phases: facing cancer, choosing treatment, trusting, and living day by day. These results were validated by four of the participants for truthfulness. The findings of this study provide holistic nurses with knowledge and a midrange theory of spirituality that can be usedin building a research-based practice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Discusses what spirituality means to patients recovering from an acute myocardial infarction. Identification of patients' perceptions of how spirituality influences recovery; Supporting categories for spirituality; Phases of discovering meaning and purpose; How spirituality influenced recovery.

Examines the concept of spiritual relationships. Theoretical definition; Characteristics of spiritual relationships; Operational definition; Model case; Metaphorical case; Application to the holistic nurse.