Anthropological, sociological, and psychological theories suggest that religious symbols should influence motivational processes during performance of goal-relevant tasks. In two experiments, positive and negative religious (Christian) symbols were presented outside of participants' conscious awareness. These symbols influenced cardiovascular responses consistent with challenge and threat state...

Document Summary) As a leading researcher in this field, Pargament (1997) makes reference to the transactional model of stress and coping (Lazarus & [Folkman], 1984) as a potential point of departure for understanding and organizing research on religiosity and spirituality. Notably, he has focused on the process of religious coping behaviour with some additional emphasis on religious appraisals...

Note: This paper represents a summary of a longer article currently under review. Among the Persistently Mentally Ill Recent research suggests a high prevalence and salience of religious coping among individuals with mental illness (Rogers et. al., in press). There remains, however, an impoverished understanding of the factors differentiating those who do and do not select various types of reli...

The way people deal with the stress of life is known as the process of coping or confrontation. We speak of religious coping when a person uses religious belief and behavior to facilitate problem solving, to prevent or alleviate stressful negative emotional consequences, notable among which is functional disability. The objective of this study was to investigate the role of religion as a strate...

This study examined the peri-trauma coping responses of 325 survivors, mostly youth, after the July 22, 2011 terror attack on Utøya Island in Norway. The aim was to understand peri-trauma coping responses and their relation to subsequent post-traumatic stress (PTS) reactions. Respondents were interviewed face-to-face 4-5 months after the shooting, and most were interviewed at their homes. Peri-...

PURPOSE despite the growing evidence for effects of religious factors on cardiac health in general populations, findings are not always consistent in sicker and older populations. We previously demonstrated that short-term negative outcomes (depression and anxiety) among older adults following open heart surgery are partially alleviated when patients employ prayer as part of their coping strate...

Religion and/or spirituality (R/S) plays a variety of important and inter-related roles for most advanced cancer patients. It has confirmed that religious involvement helps the patients to ease stress and provides individuals with positive coping strategies. However, much less attention has been given to how religion has been used to cope with cancer in China. The aim of this study was to explo...

This article extends the findings from the Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer's Caregiver Health (REACH II) program, a multisite randomized clinical trial of a multicomponent psychosocial intervention, to improve the well-being of informal caregivers (CGs) of persons with dementia. We used residual change scores and stepwise hierarchical regression analyses to explore separately in 3 racial ethn...

Issues related to psychological recovery following coronary bypass surgeries (CABG) have emerged in recent years. Other research has shown the effects of spiritual or religious activities on health and aging. However, little is known about the relationship of spiritual coping, including religious coping, to post-CABG adjustment. This study addressed multifactorial determinants of postoperative ...

BACKGROUND Although church attendance has been associated with a reduced risk of mortality, no study has examined the impact of religious struggle with an illness on mortality. OBJECTIVE To investigate longitudinally the relationship between religious struggle with an illness and mortality. METHODS A longitudinal cohort study from 1996 to 1997 was conducted to assess positive religious copi...