Spirituality of Parents of Children in Palliative Care

Abstract Aims: To determine the spirituality of parents whose children have life-limiting illnesses and to determine the factors associated with parents' spirituality. Methods: Telephone survey of 129 parents whose children were enrolled in a pediatric palliative care program in Florida. The Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-being (FACIT-Sp) scale was used to measure parents' spirituality. The Health Utilities Index (HUI) was used to measure health status. Results: Parents' average score on the FACIT-Sp meaning/peace subscale was 24.1 out of 32, and 12.5 out of 16 for the faith subscale. Parents' average total FACIT-Sp score was 36.6 of 48. Multivariate analyses show that parental black non-Hispanic race, “other” race, being married, as well as children's higher vision and hearing health status were associated with higher spirituality, as measured by the total FACIT-Sp. Two parent household and children's higher speech health status were associated with lower FACIT-Sp scores....