Spiritual Care and its Impact Among Care Givers: Results of Survey from Teaching Hospital in Karachi, Pakistan

Objective: Spiritual needs have been of great importance in care giving both religiously and culturally in our society. The aim of this study was to investigate the importance of spiritual needs of care givers and role of spiritual support in care giving. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted during July to September, 2015 at a tertiary care teaching hospital in Karachi, Pakistan. Participants 18 years old and above, involved in care giving to a family member were consecutively recruited. A pre-tested questionnaire was used to assess information and SPSS was used for data analysis. Results: A total of 400 participants were recruited. About 54% of the participants were males. Most of the participants (80%) feel that care giving gets easy with spiritual support. Conclusion: Spiritual care has favorable impact on psychological and spiritual well being of care givers. Physicians need to be aware of the value held for religious beliefs and spiritual implementation by patients and their care givers.