Religion, Spirituality, and Health in Medically Ill Hospitalized Older Patients

Objectives: To examine the effect of religion and spirituality on social support, psychological functioning, and physical health in medically ill hospitalized older adults. Design: Cross‐sectional survey. Setting: Duke University Medical Center. Participants: A research nurse interviewed 838 consecu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (JAGS) 2004-04, Vol.52 (4), p.554-562
Main Authors: Koenig, Harold G., George, Linda K., Titus, Patricia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic Medical Centers
Age Factors
Aged - psychology
Aged - statistics & numerical data
Anesthesia. Intensive care medicine. Transfusions. Cell therapy and gene therapy
Attitude to Health
Biological and medical sciences
Clinical death. Palliative care. Organ gift and preservation
Cognition
Comorbidity
coping
Coping strategies
Cross-Sectional Studies
Depression
Depressive Disorder - psychology
Female
Geriatric Assessment
Geriatrics
Gerontology
Health
Health Status
Health Surveys
Hospitalization
Hospitals
Humans
Inpatients - psychology
Inpatients - statistics & numerical data
Male
Medical sciences
Mental Health
Mental Status Schedule
North Carolina - epidemiology
Older people
Predictive Value of Tests
Regression Analysis
Religion
Religious beliefs
Social Support
Spirituality
USA
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Summary:Objectives: To examine the effect of religion and spirituality on social support, psychological functioning, and physical health in medically ill hospitalized older adults. Design: Cross‐sectional survey. Setting: Duke University Medical Center. Participants: A research nurse interviewed 838 consecutively admitted patients aged 50 and older to a general medical service. Measurements: Measures of religion included organizational religious activity (ORA), nonorganizational religious activity, intrinsic religiosity (IR), self‐rated religiousness, and observer‐rated religiousness (ORR). Measures of spirituality were self‐rated spirituality, observer‐rated spirituality (ORS), and daily spiritual experiences. Social support, depressive symptoms, cognitive status, cooperativeness, and physical health (self‐rated and observer‐rated) were the dependent variables. Regression models controlled for age, sex, race, and education. Results: Religiousness and spirituality consistently predicted greater social support, fewer depressive symptoms, better cognitive function, and greater cooperativeness (P
ISSN:0002-8614
1532-5415
DOI:10.1111/j.1532-5415.2004.52161.x