Spirituality as intrinsic motivational factor and health related quality of life among hospitalized male patients practicing Hinduism in India

INTRODUCTION: Intrinsic motivation denotes doing an activity for itself and deriving pleasure and satisfaction from involvement. Intrinsic spirituality as the most important motive or driving factor in a person's life has a significant influence on the perception of one's own physical and psychological health, social relationships, and environmental health. AIM: The study aims to investigate the influence of intrinsic spirituality as a motivational factor on the dimensions of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among hospitalized patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three hundred and sixty-seven patients admitted to a tertiary hospital were selected by stratified random sampling from different medical and surgical wards. Patients comprised Hindu male patients, mean age 36 (standard deviation = 13.2) years suffering from either medical or surgical disorders of minor-to-moderate intensity. Measures of Intrinsic Spirituality Scale and WHOQOL-BREF were administered to assess their intrinsic spirituality and the four dimensions of HRQoL, namely physical and psychological health, social relationships, and environmental quality of life. Data of 325 patients (42 participants eliminated in data cleaning process) were analyzed using SPSS version 25 for Pearson's correlation, and regression analysis. RESULTS: Higher scores on intrinsic spirituality were found to be positively impact overall quality of life and general health (r = 0.169, P = 0.002; ß =0.180, P = 0.001), psychological health (r = 0.149, P = 0.007; ß =0.151, P = 0.006), social relationships (r = 0.123, P = 0.026; ß =0.133, P = 0.016), and environmental health perception (r = 0.211, P = 0.000; ß =0.22, P = 0.000) and were not significantly correlated with physical health perception (r = 0.091, P = 0.10; ß =0.093, P = 0.094). CONCLUSION: Spiritual motivation significantly predicts better psychological, social, and environmental health perception among hospitalized male Hindu patients. Realistic perception with respect to physical health is also reflected in this study.