Journal of Religion & Health最新文献

Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) is one of the leading causes of death worldwide and has multidimensional impacts, including physical, psychological, social, and spiritual aspects. Spiritual well-being (SWB), which encompasses religious and existential dimensions, is crucial in helping patients cope with the disease. However, its role in CHD patients has not been comprehensively mapped. This scoping review explores the concept of spiritual well-being, its dimensions, and its impact on CHD patients. This scoping review uses the Arksey and O'Malley framework and the PRISMA-ScR guidelines. Literature searches were conducted using the Scopus, ScienceDirect, PubMed, Springer, and ProQuest databases with keywords related to CHD and SWB. Inclusion criteria included original articles in English, full text, published between 2014 and 2025, and examining SWB in CHD patients. Of the 1,698 articles identified, eleven articles met the criteria for analysis. Most of the studies originated from Iran, followed by Turkey, Indonesia, and Brazil. The results showed that high spiritual well-being was associated with reduced anxiety, depression, and fear of death; lower severity of coronary heart disease; and improved quality of life. Spiritual well-being plays a crucial role in improving psychological aspects, promoting healthy lifestyle behaviors, and improving the quality of life in patients with coronary heart disease.

Menopause represents a natural transition in a woman's life, profoundly shaping her psychological well-being and social identity. This study aimed to explore the spiritual and psychological experiences of women during menopause in Turkey and to understand how religious and spiritual practices influence their coping processes and perceptions of womanhood. A qualitative research design based on semi-structured interviews was used with 17 women aged 40-65 years, with diverse educational and occupational backgrounds. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings revealed that menopause is a multidimensional process encompassing emotional, social, and spiritual transformation. Participants frequently used religious and spiritual practices such as prayer and worship to manage emotional distress and enhance psychological resilience. Four major themes emerged: identity and social roles, continuity and transformation of life, emotional experiences, and spirituality and faith. Overall, the study highlights that spirituality serves as a significant source of coping and meaning-making during menopause. Incorporating spiritual perspectives into healthcare counseling and support programs, including midwifery services, may strengthen women's psychological well-being during this life stage.

This study explores the religious practices of the general Ukrainian population and the Jewish community, focussing on their role in fostering social identity and psychological resilience in contemporary Ukraine. It examines how religious rituals, as key sociocultural mechanisms, contribute to a collective sense of belonging and help individuals adapt to social and cultural disruptions, especially during national crises like the war in Ukraine. The article compared religious trends and the level of secularisation among European and Ukrainian Jews. Particular emphasis was placed on religious rituals in the context of social upheavals and national conflicts, such as the war in Ukraine, where religion and rituals became a support for individual and collective psychological resilience. The sociocultural, psychological and spiritual aspects of rituals, as well as the impact on the formation of positive emotional and cognitive coping strategies, were studied. The application of Tajfel's theories of social identity, Durkheim's concept of rituals, and Bolby's approaches to psychological resilience provided a deeper theoretical justification for the role of rituals in strengthening both individual and group resilience. Based on an interdisciplinary analysis, it was determined that religious rituals not only supported cultural continuity but also formed new models of social interaction and adaptation to modern challenges. The study has contributed to a broader understanding of the relationship between religious activity, social structure and psychological mechanisms of resilience, which was especially important in the context of current crisis events.

It is essential to determine moral intelligence and spiritual caregiving levels among nursing students, who are professionals of the future, for delivering nursing care within a holistic framework and increasing the quality of their delivered care. The present research was conducted to determine the relationship between moral intelligence levels and spiritual care perceptions among nursing students. This research was planned as a cross-sectional and correlational study. This study's sample comprised 420 nursing students who received education in Türkiye between March and June 2022 and agreed to take part in the research. The questionnaires to be used in the study were delivered to nursing students online through their social media accounts (WhatsApp, LinkedIn, e-mail, etc.). The Descriptive Information Form, Moral Intelligence Scale, and Spirituality and Spiritual Care Rating Scale were used to collect the research data. Students' moral intelligence score was 1.90 ± 0.41, and their spirituality and spiritual care perceptions score was 36.04 ± 6.66. A positive, moderately significant correlation was identified between moral intelligence levels and spiritual care perceptions among students (p = 0.001). Furthermore, a statistically significant correlation was found between students' scale mean scores and their grade level, providing spiritual care in the clinic and considering spiritual care as necessary as physical care (p < 0.05). To improve students' moral intelligence and increase their competence in delivering the best spiritual care, it is recommended that studies be increased on the integration of moral intelligence and spiritual care into the curriculum at all grade levels and that diverse teaching techniques be employed.

The Arts & Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI) is widely used for research evaluation, including in the field of Religion. However, apart from merely indexing research output published in journals, it is still unclear what other flaws exist when using this authoritative database to evaluate religion-related studies. Through a comprehensive analysis of the A&HCI data from a full 50-year period and the most recent 10-year period, we uncover a series of unusual findings in the field of Religion, including stagnation in the number of indexed records, absence of the author's address information, anomalies of the main contributing countries/regions, and over-concentration of preferred journals. We discuss the challenges posed by these unusual findings to the evaluation of religion-related studies using the A&HCI database. This study concludes with suggestions to the relevant stakeholders to address these issues.

Recent research has highlighted the profound connection between the gut microbiome and overall human health, particularly its impact on mental well-being. The potential of "psychobiotic" interventions to foster resilience and emotional stability is especially promising. Methodologically, this article offers a philosophical-theological exploration that interprets current microbiome research in dialog with Christian theological sources, emphasizing how human-microbe symbiosis shapes both mental health and theological understandings of the human person. The intricate relationship between the microbiome, mental health, and brain function, in turn, affects spirituality and challenges anthropocentric notions of human identity. Certain anthropological and theological perspectives suggest that the gut microbiome can be viewed as a divine gift that enhances human flourishing through symbiosis. Within this framework, the human person appears as a holobiont-a composite of body, soul, and microbial life-created for communion with God and others. As steward and priest of creation, the human-holobiont is called to actively participate in the divine work of creation and redemption through relational communion with others, including fellow humans, the natural environment, and the microbiota. Integrating scientific insights with theological reflection, this article proposes that microbiome care contributes not only to mental well-being but also to spiritual restoration and ecological ethics. A non-egocentric eco-Christological ethic could thus honor microbiome care as integral to human personhood and divine relationship, fostering harmony between humanity, creation, and the divine.

Chronic pain is a common medical challenge in Poland. Its impact is particularly significant because it affects all dimensions of patients' lives. Interestingly, the psychological and spiritual dimensions of quality of life appear to be closely intertwined. There is a scarcity of research explaining the beneficial or detrimental roles of religious coping on well-being in chronic pain patients. However, research on other populations indicates the importance of the existential factor within the two-dimensional spiritual well-being theory. We hypothesize that religious well-being is indirectly linked to mental health and quality of life through its role in facilitating meaning and purpose in life. We recruited 58 non-cancer chronic pain patients at the Pain Management Clinic of the University Clinical Hospital in Poznań, Poland, and examined them in two waves with a three-month interval between February and July 2025. The statistical analysis indicated that religious well-being significantly reduces depression and anxiety and increases quality of life, indirectly through improving existential well-being. We conclude that while belief in God may offer comfort, the psychological benefits of religiosity are conditional and depend on whether it fosters adaptive meaning-making. Purpose and hope may or may not be rooted in religious frameworks. These findings underscore the need for implementing interventions for patients with chronic pain in Poland, which focus on finding meaning and purpose-such as meaning-centered therapy or spiritually oriented conversations in clinical settings.

Little discussion of including the spiritual domain in physical therapy (PT) education in the US has occurred despite support from PT practitioners and students. The purpose of this study was to assess the perceptions of practicing physical therapists regarding the role that their own spirituality, prior professional education, and the usefulness of including spirituality in PT practice may play in several aspects of clinical practice. A random sample of 800 physical therapists working in acute/sub-acute rehabilitation settings selected from the APTA membership was surveyed. This cross sectional study achieved a response rate of 57.5% (n = 460). Outcomes consisted of 57 Likert-scale items focused on the role that spirituality might play in PT clinical practice. Internal consistency reliability of these items was excellent (α = .97). The importance of including spirituality in patient care (total score) was significantly related to respondents' self-identified belief system (where religious/spiritual were more positive relative to atheist/agnostic/other) (p < 001/h2 = .178) andperceptions of usefulness of including spirituality in patient care (where positive perceptions related to positive outcomes) (p < .001/d = -1.856). Although those with prior exposure to spirituality through professional education tended to agree more with the outcomes, only three of the five topic areas were statistically significant, but the total score was not significantly related (p = .237/d = -.154). Study results contribute to the existing literature supporting the importance of addressing spirituality in PT education. Educating physical therapists in this area would enhance the profession's goal of providing holistic patient-centered care and improving cultural competence.

This mixed-methods study examines the complex relationship between religious coping, moral injury, and burnout among Muslim healthcare professionals in the post-pandemic context. Quantitative data from 312 clinicians revealed that negative religious coping strongly correlated with both moral injury (r = 0.48, p < 0.001) and burnout (r = 0.52, p < 0.001), while positive religious coping served as a protective factor against burnout (r = - 0.34, p < 0.001) though showed limited impact on moral injury itself. Qualitative findings from 28 in-depth interviews identified four key themes: the dual nature of divine trust (Tawakkul) and predestination (Taqdir), the burden of sacred responsibility (Amanah), spiritual solace in ritual practice, and experiences of institutional and communal invalidation. The study demonstrates that Islamic religious frameworks function as both protective resources and potential sources of distress, highlighting the urgent need for spiritually informed support systems that address the unique psychological and theological dimensions of moral injury in Muslim clinicians.

Marriage and religion often reinforce one another, though both are individually related to improved health and well-being across many domains. Moreover, emerging adulthood is a foundational period in which many religious beliefs crystallize, and behavioral patterns solidify, often coinciding with decisions to marry and attend college. However, it is unclear how social and subjective well-being may be different between those emerging adults who are religious and married and those who are religious but not married. Moreover, gender differences have yet to be explored in this domain. The current study addressed these issues by administering an online survey to 2352 religiously active emerging adult students at a Latter-day Saint university in the USA, with 182 (7.7%) being married. Results demonstrated a consistent pattern, with married participants indicating significantly (p < .05) higher subjective well-being along with lower loneliness, interpersonal conflict, and time spent on social media. However, unmarried students had higher levels of social interaction with their peers. Gender differences emerged, such that married men fared better in terms of lower loneliness, more close friendships, and less negative affect than married women. These results support marriage as a strong protective factor for social and subjective well-being while supporting religious affiliation as a health protection factor for both married and unmarried students. Gender differences suggest that religious men, at least early in their marriage, may benefit in their social well-being disproportionately more than women. Some implications for these findings in religious universities are explored.