Relationships Between Negative Spiritual Beliefs and Health Outcomes for Individuals With Heterogeneous Medical Conditions

Abstract

This study determined the degree to which any negative spiritual beliefs, regardless of one’s positive spiritual beliefs, are associated with health outcomes. Participants included 199 individuals with heterogeneous health conditions (i.e., traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, stroke, cancer, primary care disorders, healthy). Two groups were identified: a negative spirituality group (n = 61), that self-endorsed any degree of negative spiritual belief (i.e., feeling abandonment/punishment from a higher power) and a no negative spirituality group (n = 138), with no endorsement of any degree of negative spiritual belief. Measures included the Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiousness/Spirituality and the Short-Form 36. Results indicated that the negative spirituality group endorsed significantly worse bodily pain, physical health, and mental health, as well as significantly less positive spirituality, less frequent religious practices, and a lower level of forgiveness. Negative spirituality was also significantly correlated with worse physical health, mental health, and pain, while positive spirituality was significantly correlated only with better mental health. It was concluded that any degree of negative spiritual belief, regardless of positive spiritual beliefs, is associated with worse health outcomes. The need exists to develop targeted interventions to specifically address negative spiritual beliefs, which have been shown to be related to increased pain and physical disability in several studies.