SPIRITUALITY OF CAREGIVER WIVES OF DEMENTIA PATIENTS By

The spiritual perspectives o f 30 caregiver wives of dementia patients and 30 noncaregiver wives were compared using a convenience sample in the Midwest. Spiritual perspective includes behaviors such as praying privately, mentioning spiritual matters to others, and seeking spiritual guidance as well as beliefs such as forgiveness, the belief that spiritual views influence their life, and feeling close to God or a higher power during prayer or worship. The Spiritual Perspective Scale was used to measure spiritual perspective in participants. Scores on the Spiritual Perspective Scale were analyzed for the two groups using the t test for individual variables. Individual tool items were analyzed using the Mann- Whitney U test. The spiritual perspectives of the two groups were not significantly different from each other for either total scores on the Spiritual Perspective Scale or answers on individual items within the tool. The results of this study indicated that both groups were found to have similar levels of spiritual perspective with no difference found with the additional burden of caregiving among caregiver wives. Acknowledgment