The moderating role of spirituality on quality of life and depression among adolescents with spina bifida

Aim: To investigate the relationships between spirituality, somatic symptom distress/severity, depressive symptoms and quality of life (QOL) for adolescents diagnosed with spina bifida (SB). Design: Exploratory, cross-sectional design. Methods: Fifty-eight adolescents with SB in southern California were recruited during routine visits to a multidisciplinary clinic at a healthcare university from January 2016–January 2017. Each adolescent completed a series of self-report measures, including the System of Belief Inventory, Somatic Symptom Scale, Patient Health Questionnaire and Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory. Path analysis was performed to examine regression coefficients for each direct and indirect effect. Results: The mediation–moderation analysis showed that depressive symptoms fully mediated the relationship between symptom distress and QOL (B = 0.029 [0.014], CI [0.007, 0.061]) and higher levels of spirituality moderated the relationship between depressive symptoms and QOL (B = 0.052, p =.018). Spirituality was higher for adolescents with greater symptom severity; including shunt status Welch's F(1, 53.689) = 4.174, p =.046, level of lesion F(2,57) = 3.382, p =.041, and ambulation status F(3, 57) = 2.920, p =.042. Conclusion: Adolescents with SB who had greater levels of symptom distress experienced significantly higher levels of depressive symptoms and a lower QOL. Contrary to our expectations, adolescents with greater levels of spirituality had a lower QOL when depressive symptoms were mild/moderate, but no differences were noted when depressive symptoms were severe. Impact: This study examined the relationship between spirituality and quality of life (QOL) in adolescents with spina bifida, who were experiencing different levels of depressive symptoms and symptom distress/severity. Depressive symptoms appeared to have a more profound effect on QOL than spirituality. Accordingly, we recommend that healthcare professionals actively screen for depressive symptoms when assessing these adolescents and their physical symptoms/distress levels.