The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between spiritual well-being, depression, and health status of elderly women in a community for providing the basic data necessary to improve the practice of nursing.

The participants were 295 elderly women, over 65 years old in Gwangju and Kyongbuk province, Korea. The data were collected between April 15th and June 15, 2003 using a structured questionnaire and were analyzed using SPSS Win 8.0.

Factors such as religious belief (p<.001), type of religion (p<.001), participation of worship (p<.001), significance of religion (p<.001), education (p=.001), spouse (p=.015), financial supporter (p=.001), and living satisfaction (p<.001) showed a statistically significant relation with spiritual well-being. There was a negative correlation between spiritual well-being and depression (r=-0.32, p<.001), and between health status and depression (r=-0.50, p<.001). However, there was a positive correlation between spiritual well-being and health status (r=0.32, p<.001).

In order to promote spiritual well-being in elderly women, it is necessary to develop a nursing intervention program classified by the type of religions, followed by studies on the results of proven intervention programs.