Spiritual Struggle in Parents of Children with Cystic Fibrosis Increases Odds of Depression
Table 1
Baseline characteristics of study subjects according to degree of spiritual struggle.
Degree of spiritual struggle
value
None ()
Mild ()
Moderate/severe ()
Parents, (%)
Female
31 (56.4%)
47 (83.9%)
23 (76.7%)
0.0044
Male
24 (43.6%)
9 (16.1%)
7 (23.3%)
Religious affiliation, (%)
Nondenominational Christian
18 (32.7%)
19 (33.9%)
10 (33.3%)
0.47
Protestant
5 (9.1%)
9 (16.1%)
8 (26.7%)
Roman Catholic
11 (20.0%)
11 (19.6%)
3 (10.0%)
Other
10 (18.2%)
7 (12.5%)
6 (20.0%)
None
11 (20.0%)
10 (17.9%)
3 (10.0%)
Being “at peace,” median (IQR),
10 (8–12), 55
10 (7–12), 55
8.5 (6–11), 30
0.012
Marital status, (%)
Married
54 (98.2%)
48 (85.7%)
24 (80.0%)
0.009
Not married
1 (1.8%)
8 (14.3%)
6 (20.0%)
Education level, (%)
High school (some or completed)
16 (29.1%)
11 (19.6%)
8 (26.7%)
0.38
Some college (did not graduate)
16 (29.1%)
16 (28.6%)
12 (40.0%)
College/graduate school (completed)
23 (41.8%)
29 (51.8%)
9 (30.0%)
Multiple children with CF, (%)
Yes
12 (21.8%)
12 (21.4%)
3 (10.0%)
0.36
No
43 (78.2%)
44 (78.6%)
27 (90.0%)
CES-D score (depressive symptomology), median (IQR),
9 (4–16), 49
12 (8–24), 49
27 (20–33), 30
<0.0001
Above cutoff for clinically significant depressive symptoms, (%)
Yes
13 (23.6%)
20 (35.7%)
27 (90.0%)
<0.0001
No
36 (65.5%)
29 (51.8%)
3 (10.0%)
Child with CF, (%)
Female
27 (49.1%)
26 (46.4 %)
13 (43.3%)
0.95
Male
27 (49.1%)
29 (51.8%)
15 (50.0%)
Child age in years, median (IQR),
6 (3–9), 54
7 (3–11), 55
4.5 (3–10), 30
0.52
Pulmonary exacerbations child had in prior year, median (IQR),
0 (0–2), 55
0 (0–2), 56
1 (0–2), 30
0.48
BMI percentile of child, median (IQR),
58 (35–86), 55
56 (31–75), 54
49 (35–86), 30
0.61
, total number of participants at baseline in each category of religious/spiritual struggle; , number of participants with available data; CES-D, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale; IQR, intraquartile range; R-COPE, religious coping methods scale; SD, standard deviation; values were calculated by chi-square test or Fisher’s exact test, as appropriate, for categorical variables, and by Kruskal-Wallis test for continuous variables.
