Role Of Religion In Coping Research Articles

Self-efficacy, religiosity and opinions on the role of religion in coping with the difficulties of medical students

Self-efficacy, religiosity and opinions on the role of religion in coping with the difficulties of medical students

The Use of Religious Coping Methods in a Secular Society: A Survey Study Among Cancer Patients in Sweden.

In the present article, based on results from a survey study in Sweden among 2,355 cancer patients, the role of religion in coping is discussed. The survey study, in turn, was based on earlier findings from a qualitative study of cancer patients in Sweden. The purpose of the present survey study was to determine to what extent results obtained in the qualitative study can be applied to a wider population of cancer patients in Sweden. The present study shows that use of religious coping methods is infrequent among cancer patients in Sweden. Besides the two methods that are ranked in 12th and 13th place, that is, in the middle (Listening to religious music and Praying to God to make things better), the other religious coping methods receive the lowest rankings, showing how nonsignificant such methods are in coping with cancer in Sweden. However, the question of who turns to God and who is self-reliant in a critical situation is too complicated to be resolved solely in terms of the strength of individuals’ religious commitments. In addition to background and situational factors, the culture in which the individual was socialized is an important factor. Regarding the influence of background variables, the present results show that gender, age, and area of upbringing played an important role in almost all of the religious coping methods our respondents used. In general, people in the oldest age-group, women, and people raised in places with 20,000 or fewer residents had a higher average use of religious coping methods than did younger people, men, and those raised in larger towns.

Religiousness in times of job insecurity: job demand or resource?

Purpose– Departing from the job demands resources model, the purpose of this paper is to investigate whether religion, defined as strength of religious faith, can be viewed as resource or as demand. More specifically, the authors addressed the question as to how job insecurity and religion interact in predicting burnout and change-oriented behavior.Design/methodology/approach– The authors conducted moderated structural equation modeling on survey data from a sample of 238 employees confronted with organizational change.Findings– Results were largely consistent with the “religion as a demand” hypothesis: religion exacerbated rather than buffered the negative effects of job insecurity, so that the adverse impact of job insecurity was stronger for highly religious employees than for employees with low levels of religiousness. Religious employees appear to experience more strain when faced with the possibility of job loss.Originality/value– The results of this study challenge and extend existing knowledge on the role of religion in coping with life stressors. The dominant view has been that religion is beneficial in coping with major stressors. The results of this study, however, suggest otherwise: religion had an exacerbating rather than a buffering effect on the relationship between job insecurity and outcomes.

Depression in the Medically Ill: Evidence for the Important Role of Chaplains in Medical Settings

Health professionals often underestimate the power that religious faith plays in the healing of the whole person (emotional, social, and psychological), especially when that person becomes physically ill. This article examines the role of religion in coping with stress and medical illness, reviews new research on the relationship between religious involvement and mental health, and explores how religious psychotherapy can speed the treatment of depression and other emotional conditions. A growing research base is now beginning to document the wide prevalence of spiritual and religious needs of patients in health care settings, the importance that addressing those needs plays in the patient’s mental and physical health, and the key role that chaplains play in this regard (as the only health professionals who are trained to address these areas). That research base includes studies from the United Kingdom. We are now developing and testing new psychotherapeutic methods at Duke University for therapists, including chaplains, that will provide tools to address the emotional and religious needs of Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish, and Hindu patients with medical illness.

Role of Religion in Cancer Coping Among African Americans: A Qualitative Examination

The present study used qualitative methods to examine if and how African Americans with cancer use religiosity in coping. Patients (N = 23) were recruited from physician offices and completed 1–1½ hour interviews. Themes that emerged included but were not limited to control over one's illness, emotional response, importance of social support, role of God as a healer, relying on God, importance of faith for recovery, prayer and scripture study, and making sense of the illness. Participants had a great deal to say about the role of religion in coping. These themes may have utility for development of support interventions if they can be operationalized and intervened upon.

The Role of Religion in Coping with the Loss of a Family Member to Homicide

This study investigated the role of religious coping among 150 family members of homicide victims. Six types of religious coping activities were examined: Spiritually Based Coping, Religious Support, Avoidance, Pleading, Good Deeds, and Discontent. We hypothesized that high levels of religious coping would be reported by the sample and that religious coping generally would be related to less posthomicide distress. Results indicated that the sample engaged in high amounts of religious coping activities, with the exception of Discontent. Contrary to hypothesis, religious coping activities largely were related to more distress. Whereas Religious Support was positively related to well-being, Pleading, Deeds, and Discontent were related negatively. These findings suggest that although religious coping activities are prevalent among homicide survivors, these activities may be related to poorer mental health outcomes when coping with loss of a family member to homicide.

Medical illness, religion, health control and depression of institutionalized medically ill veterans in long-term care

Utilizing multivariable multivariate regression procedures, we examine the relationships among medical illness, religion, health control beliefs and depression in 97 mostly elderly, institutionalized medically ill veterans in long term-care. Controlling for other domains of indicators, conditional canonical correlations showed that (1) religious motivation alone predicts religious coping, (2) religious coping alone predicts health control beliefs, and (3) both severity of illness/length of stay and health control beliefs predict depression. Result (1) is incompatible with the prediction by the multivariate belief-motivation theory of religiousness (MBMTR) (Schaefer and Gorsuch, 1991) that both religious belief and religious motivation determine religious coping. Results (2) and (3) are consistent with our hypothesis that control beliefs mediate the relationship between religious coping and depression. It is argued that a different operationalization of religious belief may still support the MBMTR. The role of religion in coping with health problems is discussed.

The role of religion in coping with childhood cancer

The role of religion in the crisis of childhood cancer was explored through interviews with 265 members of 118 families that had a child with cancer. Measures of family and patient religiosity were related to a broad spectrum of parental and patient perceptions and activities. Evidence was obtained that the religion related positively to familial support of the patient and efforts to keep school performance at pre-illness levels. There were signs of a narrowing of the family's social field while relationships with close friends were strengthened. Religion appeared to act as a protective-defensive system that motivated efforts by family members to cope constructively with the crisis of illness.