Religious and Spiritual Appraisals and Coping Strategies among Patients in Medical Rehabilitation

Abstract

This chapter examines the prevalence of religious and spiritual appraisals and coping strategies and their associations with anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic growth among 70 medical rehabilitation inpatients who sustained a major unanticipated physical health event. Hierarchical regression analyses reveals that sacred loss and desecration added unique variance in the prediction of symptoms of anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic growth. The results of a longitudinal study suggest that, although important, religious and spiritual appraisals do not influence outcomes in isolation. Instead, how individuals respond to, or cope with, their initial religious and spiritual appraisals may be fundamental to predicting psychological outcomes following inpatient medical rehabilitation. Practical directions for spiritually-sensitive and integrated approaches for facilitating the health and well-being of patients who are undergoing medical rehabilitation are discussed in the chapter. Keywords:anxiety; coping strategy; depression; medical rehabilitation; posttraumatic growth; religious appraisal; spiritual appraisal