TruthBook Religious News Blog

By Melissa Stee
Religion News Service Posted: 4/27/07

CHICAGO (RNS)—Most physicians say religion and spirituality have a significant impact on health, according to a new study, while just 6 percent of doctors believe religion or spirituality changed "hard" medical outcomes.

The survey, part of a University of Chicago study published by the Archives of Internal Medicine, showed more than half (54 percent) of doctors said "God or another supernatural being" can intervene in a patient’s health.

The questionnaire asked medical professionals to estimate how often their patients mention religion and spirituality issues, how much those factors influence health and how that influence is manifested.

"Consensus seems to begin and end with the idea that many, if not most, patients draw on prayer and other religious resources to navigate and overcome the spiritual challenges that arise in their experiences with illness," Farr Curlin, John Lantos, Marshall Chin and Sarah Sellergren wrote in the Archives.

Compared to those with low religiosity, physicians with high religiosity are substantially more likely to report that patients often mention religion and spirituality issues, 36 percent to 11 percent, the study showed.

According to Curlin, that response shows that "with respect to what physicians bring to the data, that has as much influence on their interpretation as the data itself."

Most respondents, however, interpreted those factors positively rather than negatively.

"Although the great majority, 85 percent, believe that the influence of religion and spirituality is generally positive, few, 6 percent, believe that religion and spirituality often changes hard medical outcomes," Curlin and colleagues wrote in the Archives.

The results showed that three out of four physicians believe religion and spirituality help patients cope, and the same number credit those factors for giving patients a positive state of mind.

Of the 2,000 physicians who received the survey, 1,144 responded. The overall study has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

Labels: God, health, Melissa Stee, physicians, religion, spirituality

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Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Study: Americans See Link Between Economic, Spiritual Health

By Melissa Stee
Religion News Service

A majority of U.S. adults say that the overall health of the nation's economy is dependent on how spiritual Americans are, a survey by the Gallup Organization shows.
Seventy-seven percent of the respondents said the nation's economic health depends a "great deal" or "some" degree on its spiritual health.

The survey, called "The Spiritual State of the Union," was conducted for the Spiritual Enterprise Institute, a West Palm Beach, Fla.-based center that focuses on building understanding of how spiritual values affect economic life.

"This in-depth study, which examined the role of spiritual commitment on many facets of life, as well as society as a whole, makes it abundantly clear that one can't understand America, unless one has an awareness and understanding of her spiritual underpinnings," wrote Theodore Roosevelt Malloch, the institute's founder, and pollster George Gallup of the Gallup Organization, in a joint analysis of the study that was released Jan. 30.

Of those surveyed, more than half say their religious beliefs greatly affect their feelings about the future, and more than one-third say they affect their relationships at work and how involved they are in volunteer activities.

Fourteen percent of those surveyed said they consider a decline in society -- ethically, morally, or religiously -- to be among the top problems facing America today.

Other findings show that 79 percent of people believe that there are clear guidelines about what is good or evil that apply to everyone.

Seventy-two percent say that their faith is what gives their life meaning, but a smaller percentage, 65 percent, consider themselves spiritually committed.

The Gallup Organization compiled the results from a survey of 1,004 adults during February and early March of 2006 with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. Commissioned by the institute, the study was partially funded by The Templeton Foundation.

Labels: Americans, economics, faith, Melissa Stee, Spiritual Enterprise Institute, spiritual values, the future