Spirituality helps people cope with difficulties: Study

Updated on: Monday, October 31, 2011

A new study has reinforced the old idea that spirituality improves health outcomes for both men and women facing chronic illnesses.

Researchers at the University of Missouri in the US found that being involved in religious or spiritual activities improves women's mental health, while men experience better physical health as well as improved mental health.

"The new findings reinforce the idea that religion or spirituality may help buffer the negative consequences of chronic health conditions," study author Stephanie Reid-Arndt was quoted as saying by LiveScience.

Numerous previous studies have shown the positive effects of spirituality and religion on health. To delve deeper into the religion-health link, Reid-Arndt and her colleagues looked at the role of gender in using spirituality to cope with their chronic health conditions such as stroke, cancer, spinal cord injury or brain injury.

For their study, published in the Journal of Religion, Disability and Health, the researchers recruited 168 people, aged 18 and more, from an academic health center who had chronic health conditions.

Sixty-one of the subjects had a traumatic brain injury, 32 were stroke victims, 25 had a spinal cord injury and 25 had cancer. The rest acted as a control group. After gauging each participant's level of religiousness or spirituality, the researchers measured their general mental and physical health by asking them to fill out questionnaires.

Though women are stereotypically regarded as more religious or spiritual than men, the researchers found no differences between two sexes in terms of self-reported levels of spiritual experiences, religious practices or congregational support.

"Both genders benefit from social support the ability to seek help from and rely on others provided by fellow congregants and involvement in religious organisations," study researcher Brick Johnstone, a health psychology professor at the university, said.

However, the researchers found that men and women benefit from spirituality differently. For women, greater mental health was associated with daily spiritual experiences, such as practicing forgiveness and using their religious beliefs to help them handle problems, the researchers found.

In addition, believing in a loving, supportive higher power was related to positive mental coping for women with chronic conditions, the study suggests.

Men, on the other hand, seem to benefit most from the social support they receive by being involved in religious activities. Religious and spiritual support can include care from congregations, spiritual interventions, such as religious counselling and forgiveness practices, and assistance from pastors and hospital chaplains.

The findings echo a 2010 study, published in the journal American Sociological Review, which found that religious people gain life satisfaction thanks to social networks they build by attending religious services.

Although men and women benefit from religion in varying ways, they both tend to lean on their chosen faith and congregations for spiritual support during difficult times, the new study showed. "We found that both genders may increase their reliance on spiritual and religious resources as they face increased illness or disability," Johnstone added.

Spirituality helps people cope with difficulties: Study

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