Perception of spiritual health: A qualitative content analysis in Iranian older adults

The present study was performed with the aim to explain older people's perceptions of spiritual health. It was conducted using the conventional content analysis method. Twelve individuals aged 60years or older with normal cognition participated in the study using purposive sampling. Data were collected by in-depth interviews. Data analysis performed using standard method of thematic analysis.The average age of the study participants was 71.25 +/- 9.48. The data analysis resulted in three main categories of spiritual insight, spiritual function, and spiritual affection. The spiritual insight included cognition of God and belief in Him, understanding of the divine religions and belief in them, self-cognition, cognition of the creation, and belief in the hereafter. This category included the two subcategories of spiritual cognition and spiritual belief. Spiritual function represented the interactions that the older people experienced in relations with God, themselves, and others. This category consisted of the subcategories of relationship with God, relationship with others, and self-cultivation. The spiritual affection included loving God and other humans and consisted of the three subcategories of spiritual affections to God, others, and oneself. This study presents in-depth data on the concept of spiritual health from older people's viewpoints. These findings would help healthcare teams in designing appropriate interventions for older people's health promotion. Also, by using the results of this research, health researchers design more appropriate tools for measuring spiritual health based on older people's perception of the concept of spiritual health.