Spiritual well-being (SWB) is a key construct in a holistic health model. This study applied a theory-driven mobile health-supported volunteer-assisted self-help (mVS) intervention to enhance SWB for discharged older patients through a medical-social-academia tripartite collaboration. This study followed a quasi-experimental design, conducted from 2017 to 2019. Data were collected from pre- and post-intervention assessment and Clinical Management System under the Hospital Authority in Hong Kong. SWB was assessed by the Spirituality Scale for Chinese Elders with seven domains, a validated scale suitable for the non-religious context. A total of 161 discharged older patients were recruited, 101 received the mVS intervention and 60 received standardized usual volunteer visits. mVS intervention was assisted by volunteers supported by a corresponding mobile application Fu Le Man Xin. The final analysis included 137 older patients living in Hong Kong aged 61 to 94 years. Repeated measures ANOVA showed mVS intervention significantly enhanced two domains of SSCE: meaning of life (F(1, 64) = 4.029, p = .049) and relationship with others (F(1, 57) = 6.428, p = .014). This study shows that mVS intervention is a feasible medical-social-academia tripartite collaboration that improves two domains of the SWB of discharged older patients: meaning of life and relationship with others.
Keywords: mHealth; older patients; spiritual well-being; tripartite collaboration; volunteer-assisted.