Spiritual well-being as a dimension of quality of life for patients with advanced cancer and AIDS and their family caregivers: results of a longitudinal study.

Based on a longitudinal, quality-of-life study, this article presents pilot data regarding the spiritual well-being of patients with advanced cancer or AIDS and their family caregivers. Data include similarities and differences between the patient and caregiver populations and patient/family caregiver dyads as well as trends with regard to changes in spiritual well-being during the illness and dying process. The reliability of the Spiritual Well-Being Scale was examined for patient and caregiver groups, as was the relationship between selected demographic variables and spiritual well-being. Implications for practice are discussed.