Investigating the effect of promoting spiritual well-being on alexithymia of patients with hypertension

Hypertension is a combination of physiological and psychological factors. To control the disease, in addition to medical interventions, the patient's emotions must also be managed. This study aimed to determine the effect of spiritual well-being on alexithymia in patients with hypertension.

This quasi-experimental study was conducted in 2020. The sample consisted of 60 hypertensive patients referred to Ashrafi Hospital in Isfahan who met the inclusion criteria. Samples were selected as available and assigned to the intervention and control groups with an online random number table. The intervention group participated in eight 90-minute spiritual training sessions, but this intervention was not performed on the control group. The data collection tool before and after the intervention was the Toronto Emotional Dysfunction Scale. Data were analyzed by descriptive (mean, standard deviation, number, percentage) and inferential tests (independent t-test, paired t-test, Chi-square Tests) in SPSS 16 software.

Before the education the mean score of alexithymia in the intervention group was 69.53 ± 6.37 and in the control group was 71 ± 5.10 which was not significantly different (P =0.49). After the intervention, the mean scores in the intervention group was 60.92 ±10.43 and in the control group was 71.32 ± 5.14, which had a significant difference (P =0.002). The mean score of alexithymia in describing emotions before and after the intervention was not significantly different (P= 0.27); But after the intervention, the mean total score of alexithymia and other subscales were significantly lower than before (P =0.003).

Spiritual well-being educations were effective on alexithymia. Therefore, these educations can be offered in the support program for patients with hypertension.