Investigation of adherence to immunosuppressive therapy and spiritual well-being in liver recipients

Objective: In our study, we investigated the relationship between spiritual well-being and adherence to immunosuppressive therapy after liver transplantation. Method: We conducted this descriptive and cross-sectional study with the participation of 131 liver transplant recipients after they had received their transplants. Data collection was carried out using a Personal Information Form, the Spiritual Well-Being Scale and the Immunosuppressant Therapy Adherence Scale. The IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 25.0 was used for the statistical analyses. Results: While 73.3% of the patients were at the ages of 45–64, 72.5% were male, and 39.7% had been using immunosuppressive medication for a period between 6 months and 1 year. The rate of corticosteroid use among the patients was 30.5%, and the rate of antimetabolite use was 21.4%. A positive and significant relationship was found between adherence to immunosuppressive treatment and spiritual well-being (B = 0.425, p = 0.017). Conclusion: Spiritual well-being is an inexpensive, effective and easy strategy to increase adherence to immunosuppressive treatment. Awareness should be raised in physicians and nurses about the importance of spiritual well-being, and they should be encouraged to support spiritual well-being.