Spiritual well-being, anxiety and depression in the preoperative period of cardiac surgery

Objective: to correlate religiosity and spiritual well-being with anxiety and depression in patients in the preoperative period of cardiac surgery. Methods: cross-sectional study conducted with 174 patients admitted to a university hospital using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Spiritual Well-Being Scale, and the DUKE Religiosity Index. Results: the religious well-being and religiosity dimensions did not present significant differences between anxious and non-anxious patients. Existential well-being showed lower scores than religious well-being, being significantly lower among anxious patients. Among patients with depressive symptoms, the existential well-being score was significantly lower. Religiosity and religious well-being were not different between depressed and non-depressed patients. Conclusion: religiosity and spirituality did not exempt patients from presenting anxiety and depression in the preoperative period of cardiac surgery, although they are cited as mediators of coping strategies and psychological adaptation. Contributions to practice: the present study provides evidence that religiosity does not exempt patients from being anxious while waiting for heart surgery.