THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SELF-REPORTED HEALTH STATUS AND SPIRITUALITY AMONG ADULT PATIENTS ATTENDING GENERAL OUTPATIENT CLINIC OF TERTIARY HOSPITAL IN IBADAN

BACKGROUND: Spirituality is an important aspect of health that is not always addressed in modern day medical practice. This is related to lack of clarity about the nature of the concept, however its role in researches and health service provision is being revisited because of the evergreen importance. OBJECTIVE: To determine the relationship between spirituality and selfreported health status of adult patients attending general outpatient clinic of University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria. METHODS: A cross-sectional descriptive study wherein interviewer administered questionnaire was applied on randomly selected 422 eligible and consenting adult patients attending general outpatient clinic of University College Hospital between 1st November, 2010 and 31st January, 2011. Their Spirituality and Heath status were assessed using spirituality scale and self reported health questionnaire respectively. RESULT: Of all the respondents, 270(64.0%) were females while 152(36.0%) were males with a ratio of 1.8:1, and mean age of 42.8±15.9. The overall mean spirituality score was 125.7 ± 12.1, the maximum obtainable score was 138. A total of 63(15.0%) respondents rated their health as excellent, 114 (27.0%) rated theirs as very good while 150 (35.5%) respondents considered theirs as good. Respondents who rated their health as good had significantly higher mean scores when compared with those who rated theirs as poor or fair (mean difference = 3.347, 95% C I = 0.552 to -6.142 p=0.019) CONCLUSION: The study revealed that perceived spiritual wellbeing is positively related to the patient's sense of general wellbeing. Therefore, there is need to give attention to patient's spiritual wellbeing during medical encounter in the hospital.