The Relationship Between Spiritual Needs, Adherence to Refills, and Medications in Patients With Coronary Artery Disease

Coronary artery disease is recognized as a major cause of mortality and an important health priority worldwide. The patient's adherence to the treatment regimen is one of the important factors in disease control. Many patients do not adhere to the treatment and ignore the physician's instructions. Spiritual needs can affect adherence to a patient's treatment. This study was conducted to determine the spiritual needs and their relationship with adherence to refill and medication in patients with coronary artery disease.

This descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study was conducted in 2017 in Qom, Iran. In this study, 100 patients with coronary artery disease hospitalized in Qom educational hospitals were selected by convenience sampling method. The required information was collected via interview using four questionnaires of demographic characteristics, spiritual needs questionnaire, hospital anxiety and depression scale, and adherence to treatment regimen questionnaire. Finally, the data were analyzed using SPSS software version 22.

The Mean±SD spiritual needs in the elderly was 44.65±12.18 and 30% of patients had adherence to refill the average. The results of multiple regression analysis showed that two variables of depression (P=0.012; β=-0.37) and active/productive forgiveness (P=0.007; β=0.41) were significantly associated with adherence to the treatment regimen among the variables included in the model.

The results of this study showed that spiritual needs have a significant relationship with adherence to refill. Also, depression is an important predictor of adherence to refill and healthcare providers need to pay attention to the role of these factors in improving adherence to patients› treatment regimens.