Religiosityspirituality and physiological markers of health. Department of clinical and social sciences in psychology, university of rochester r eligion is a large point of interest in our society. The question arises in which ways epidemiology contributes to our understanding of child and adolescent mental health and to our every day clinical practice. Special attention is paid to the definitions and development of the two concepts religiosity spirituality, the development of measurement, epidemiological. The relationship between religiosityspirituality and. Koenig, hg and bussing, a 2010 the duke university religion index durel. Results of the bivariate analyses showed a significant negative association between depression and social support, religiosity, and spirituality p by example. Sep 12, 2011 we investigated the hypothesis that religious commitment could help counter general affective distress, accompanying depressive symptoms, in older age. Epidemiological studies on the interconnection of health and specific aspects of religiosity spirituality studies on the impact of secular forms of spirituality on health interventional studies on specific practices, that is meditation, mindfulness, praying, forgiveness, and so on. Religiosity, social support, and health among the elderly in. Health and physical welfare of mankind brigham, 1835, authored by a founder of the apa.
For this study, chen and senior author tyler vanderweele, john l. Ever since the introduction of epidemiological methods into the field of child and adolescent psychiatry, numerous studies have been published in which epidemiology plays a major role. However, whether raceethnic differences exist in the associations of religiosity, alcohol consumption and aud is unclear. The prevalence of depression in old age is still a controversial issue and epidemiological studies estimate it, depending on the methodology and the population investigated, from about a dozen percentage points, through 40%, and to as much as about 70% in persons over 65 years of age. Loeb and frances lehman loeb professor of epidemiology, analyzed health data from mothers in the nurses health study ii nhsii and.
Religiosity and health in epidemiological studies request pdf. Pdf spirituality and religiosity and its role in health. Epidemiologic study types have their roots in the concepts of scientific experimenta tion. Within the emerging mental health research in muslim populations, previous studies have reported conflicting findings regarding the connection between psychological wellbeing and explicit religiosity e. Research on religion, spirituality and health is expanding rapidly. Many studies have found that religious affiliation and participation is inversely related to juvenile drug, alcohol, and tobacco use, as well as a host of delinquent behaviors smith, 2003. Classification of epidemiological study designs neil pearce 1 faculty of epidemiology and population health, london school of hygiene and tropical medicine, uk and 2 centre for public health research, massey university, wellington, new zealand. The relationship between religiosity and religious coping to.
Conversely, a poor health status could decrease the capacity to attend a religious meeting, in that way creating another bias on the association between religiousness and health. The major aim of the current study is to determine whether there is a relationship between religiosity, social support, and health among the elderly in kuwaiti society. A combined analysis found a significant, but small. In just the last few years, a number of major longitudinal studies have reported both long and shortterm beneficial effects of individual religiousness on physical health status. Historically, most of these measures of religiosity were developed in protestant and catholic christian populations. Other studies have documented that religiosity is negatively related to suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and actual suicide donahue, 1995. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Depression and religiosity in older age european journal of.
As religion and health research has gained acceptance in psychiatry and psychology, a misperception has arisen that such studies are a new development. A combined analysis found a significant, but small, beneficial effect. Religiosity is a protective factor against many health problems, including alcohol use disorders aud. For example, howells 1928 and sinclair 1928 both reported studies documenting a negative correlation. Hijab, religiosity, and psychological wellbeing of muslim. The duke university religion index durel is a fiveitem measure of religious involvement, and was developed for use in large crosssectional and longitudinal observational studies. A total of 34 older adults, all catholic believers, completed selfreported questionnaires on the presence of depressive symptoms, religiosity, health, worry, and the style of coping with stress. Multidimensional understanding of religiosityspirituality. Crossnational comparisons of highly differing rates of religiosity and societal conditions form a mass epidemiological experiment that can be used to test whether high rates of belief in and worship of a creator are necessary for high levels of social health.
In these years, new large epidemiological studies such as the framingham heart study and the seven countries study had begun to pinpoint high fat diet and smoking as two key risk factors for the disease, and most of the attention of the medical profession was. Evidence from epidemiological and clinical studies and medical research supports the impact of religious affiliation and involvement on a diverse array of mental and physical health indicators and disease states. The history of epidemiology has involved many key players who sought to understand and explain illness, injury, and death from an observational scientific perspective. It also includes church attendance and its relation to drug use. The longstanding interest in the effects of religiosity and spirituality rs on health outcomes has given rise to a large and diverse literature. These individuals also sought to provide information for the prevention and control of health related states and events. The combination of beliefs, behaviors and environment promoted by the religious involvement probably act altogether to determine the religious effects on health. Epidemiological inequalities in oral health have been related to variance in ethnicity and religiosity. Religiosity, social support, and health among the elderly. Measures of religiosity sciencedirect science, health and. Mindfulness and its moderating effect on the relation of religiosity to psychological health matthew della porta, 2006 advised by dr.
In 2001, we documented that nearly 1,200 studies had quantitatively examined some aspect of the religionhealth relationship 1. Respondents reported moderate to low levels of depression m 1. In 2001, we documented that nearly 1,200 studies had quantitatively examined some aspect of the religion health relationship 1. I will extend their comments by emphasizing 3 inherent limitations to defining clinical cases in epidemiological studies.
It does yield insights about one specification of vague religious claims to enhance life. Epidemiological studies depression scale for children cesdc. Epidemiology is the study of health in populations to understand the causes and patterns of health and illness. Religiosity, depression and family functioning of mothers of. A mancova revealed no significant main effect for religious affiliation. Measures of spirituality will be presented briefly in a later section. The relationship between religiosity and religious coping.
Special attention is paid to the definitions and development of the two concepts religiosity spirituality, the development of measurement, epidemiological evidence linking rs to morbidity. Measuring spirituality and religiosity in health research. In the final chapter, i use multivariate analysis again to explore links between psychological distress measured by the center for epidemiological studies depression scale and. The instruments utilized for this study were the religious commitment inventory, the spiritual assessment inventory, the religious quest inventory, the intrinsicextrinsic religiosity scale revised, the meaning in life questionnaire, and the center for epidemiological studies on depression, and the beck anxiety inventory.
Religiosity and subjective and psychological wellbeing in. Differences were revealed not only in clinical findings but also in oral health behavior 37. The role of the church in health promotion is discussed, with examples of church intervention model programs. A fiveitem measure for use in epidemiological studies. Not all studies, however, have proved a positive association between religiosity and mental health. For example, in an 8 year study of national health interview survey data, hummer et al. Studies involving christian denominations and sects currently dominate research into the effects of religion on health3840. Studies have found differences in caries prevalence among different religious groups 3436. The effects of spiritual practices on recovery from substance abuse. It is designed for federal, state, and local government health professionals and private sector health professionals who are responsible for disease surveillance or investigation. In nevilles conception this means that claims that religion promotes well being are true as vague. However, empirical studies have had limited success in accounting for the psychosocial mechanisms described above for the health promoting effects of the religious involvement. This course covers basic epidemiology principles, concepts, and procedures useful in the surveillance and investigation of health related states or events.
Depression and religiosity in older age european journal. In 1980, the national institute of mental health nimh published religion and mental health summerlin, 1980, an annotated bibliography of 1836 entries journal articles, chapters, books, reports, other media. There is need for a brief measure of religiosity that can be included in epidemiological surveys to examine relationships between religion and health outcomes. Measuring multiple dimensions of religion and spirituality. With respect to mental healthrelated outcomes, several studies have found that those with greater religiosity tend to have lower rates of depression, anxiety, substance use, and suicide attempts 1517.
To the authors knowledge to date, there are no studies that discuss the relationship between religiosity and health status among the elderly in kuwaiti society. Spirituality, religiosity, and health in global perspective zachary zimmer mount saint vincent university presentation to the college of population studies, chulalongkorn university, bangkok, thailand. Validity and reliability of the hebrew version of the spreuk. Religiosity is a factor involved in the management of health and diseasespatient longevity. These individuals also sought to provide information for the prevention and control of healthrelated states and events. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether acute stress reactivity, as measured by changes in cortisol levels in response to a laboratory stressor, is related to religiosity, religious coping, and psychological wellbeing such as depression and anxiety. We conducted a metaanalysis on research involving rs and physiological markers of health to elucidate both the scope and mechanisms of this phenomenon. The relationship between religion and health has been of longstanding interest in the health, social, and behavioral sciences, spanning a period of 100 years 117, 121, 122, 123. Validity and reliability of the hebrew version of the. Studies suggest that religiosity has greater buffering effects on mental health problems among us blacks and hispanics than whites. Measuring spirituality and religiosity in clinical.
Finally, a very important dimension of religiosity is religious commitment, which reflects the influence that religious beliefs have on a persons decisions and lifestyle. Three measures of disease occurrence are commonly used in incidence studies. Despite recognized methodological and analytical issues, overall the findings indicate a consistent and salutary influence of religious factors on individual and population health 110, 122. The instrument assesses the three major dimensions of religiosity. It is multidimensional to allow investigation of multiple possible mechanisms of effect, brief enough to be included in clinical or epidemiological surveys, inclusive of both traditional religiousness and noninstitutionally based spirituality, and appropriate for diverse judeo christian populations. Measuring spirituality and religiosity in clinical research. Request pdf religiosity and health in epidemiological studies the relationship between religion and health has been the subject of growing interest in epidemiological research. Most researchers conclude from epidemiological studies regarding religion that it has a modest but mostly salutary impact on human health. The epidemiology program, a research division of vas office of patient care services, conducts epidemiology research studies and surveillance the collection and analysis of data on the health of veterans. Previous studies have linked adults religious involvement to better health and wellbeing outcomes, including lower risk of premature death. Regier et al 1 summarize discrepancies in prevalence rates between the epidemiological catchment area eca study and the national comorbidity survey ncs and provide a useful overview of plausible explanations. Introduction types of studies joshua naranjo epidemiology, by example. The third chapter reveals strong positive correlations between life satisfaction and happiness subjective wellbeing and religious affiliation and devotion. Mindfulness and its moderating effect on the relation of.
Depression, religiosity, and parenting styles among lds youth. There is, however, a consistent lay impression that, if. The following 15 measures assess religiosity, and can be administered to people from a range of different religious backgrounds. However, not all studies have found that increased religiosity is associated with better outcomes 17, 18. Koenig, hg, mccullough, me and larson, db 2001 handbook of religion and health. Despite somewhat inconclusive empirical evidence, because of the difficulties encountered in studying the topic, this area is worth of further investigation. In the last 10 years, more than 2,000 additional quantitative studies have been published 2. Religiosity, depression and family functioning of mothers. Intelligencereligiosity associations knowledge of a negative relationship between intelligence and religiosity extends back to the early days of differential psychology. Introduction types of studies outline 1 introduction 2 types of studies descriptive studies cross sectional studies cohort studies casecontrol studies joshua naranjo epidemiology, by example. Exploring the multivariate relationships between adolescent. Epidemiology and the study of religion sciencedirect.
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