Objective To explore the effect of spiritual care on improving the psychological stress levels of relatives of patients with terminal cancer. Methods During January 2013 and January 2014, 220 relatives of patients with terminal cancer were selected. Convenience sampling method was adopted to select 100 relatives out of 190 who were agreed to be participated in the investigation, who were divided into the trial group and the control group with 50 in each according to the random alphabet method. The control group was given routine care and psychological counseling, and the trial group was given spiritual care intervention additionally. Before intervention, all of the individuals in both of the two groups should conduct the questionnaire of general demographic data, caregiver stress scale, fatigue rating scale, quality of life scale (QLS), social support scale (SSS), and relatives stress scale (RSS). Results After one month's intervention, caregiver stress scale score (52.14±4.75), fatigue rating score (76.75±8.69), RSS score (15.71±3.97), SSS score (22.59±2.22), the QLS score (66.9±7.5) in the trial group were significant better than those in the control group (P < 0.05). After intervention, all the scores in the trial group were significant better than whose before the intervention (P < 0.05). Conclusion For the relatives of the patients with terminal cancer, spiritual care can reduce the occurrence rate of stress and fatigue, relieve the psychological stress level, and improve the social support and quality of life.

Citation： LuPing. Effect of Spiritual Care on Improving the Psychology Stress Levels of Relatives of Patients with Terminal Cancer. West China Medical Journal, 2016, 31(8): 1423-1427. doi: 10.7507/1002-0179.201600387 Copy