To advance knowledge in the study of spirituality and physical health, we examined sociodemographic, behavioral, and attitudinal correlates of self-perceptions of spirituality. Participants were a nationally representative sample of 1,422 adult respondents to the 1998 General Social Survey. They were asked, among other things, to rate themselves on the depth of their spirituality and the depth ...

The rising popularity of spirituality is accompanied by a flood of research in numerous disciplines to probe its relationships with health, wellness, and countless other topics. Initially subsumed under religion, especially Christianity, and still overlapping with it, spirituality is increasingly treated as a distinct topic that applies to all religions and to persons who have none with their d...

OBJECTIVE It is imperative that research identifies factors related to depression among individuals in substance use treatment, as depression is associated with substance use relapse. Dispositional mindfulness and spirituality may bear an important role in the relationship between depression and substance use. METHOD Using preexisting patient medical records (N = 105), the current study inves...

PURPOSE Investigations into the role of spirituality in cancer confirm the association of good spiritual well-being with many positive outcomes. This study aimed to evaluate potential changes in spirituality over the course of radiation therapy (RT). PATIENTS AND MATERIALS The Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual questionnaire measuring spiritual well-being and quality o...

The link between religion and work is not new. For centuries, people have strived to interpret their work through religious lenses. Recently, however, a significant paradigm shift has occurred. The current view is that spirituality, as opposed to religion, is a better construct for understanding the relationship between the individual and modern pluralistic workplaces. This current perspective,...

Holistic care is the evaluation of the physical and mental states of individuals. Considering the importance of spirituality in healthcare and its pivotal role as the first step toward providing spiritual care, this study was conducted to determine the perception of Iranian nurses towards spirituality in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). Methods: This study was conducted on nine participan...

Evidence is presented that bears on 9 hypotheses about the link between religion or spirituality and mortality, morbidity, disability, or recovery from illness. In healthy participants, there is a strong, consistent, prospective, and often graded reduction in risk of mortality in church/service attenders. This reduction is approximately 25% after adjustment for confounders. Religion or spiritua...

Illness and suffering inevitably bring one face to face with the ultimate questions of life. Thus it is no surprise that spirituality is currently the subject of intense study in medicine and allied disciplines. But these studies are floundering for want of a defmition of spirituality, for one cannot research what one cannot clearly defme. With very few exceptions Western investigators have yet...

Religious practices such as prayer represent the most prevalent complementary and alternative therapies in the United States. However, biomedicine has sometimes viewed faith and related religious worldviews as relevant only when they obstruct implementation of scientifically sound biomedical care. Recent efforts to arrive at a new synthesis raise challenges for pediatricians. This article revie...