Spiritual and religious support

In reading over some of today’s health care publications, I’m seeing greater consideration of a dimension of care that many medical professionals feel has been missing from our health care system — it's the spiritual and religious dimension of care.

No doubt, we’re in an era where technological advancements seem to be the primary drive behind medicine, but, at least in my view, this shouldn’t diminish the importance spirituality and religion have in healing and recovery.

In the context of health care, spirituality and religion entail caring, supporting, and having compassion for the whole person — the type of care that addresses one’s physical, emotional, and spiritual needs.  And these needs, as a growing number of health care providers are finding, are quite interrelated.

That’s why I was interested to come across a recent study by the University of Missouri’s Center for Religion and the Professions, which says spiritual and religious support may enhance health outcomes for those experiencing chronic health conditions.

The study is called, "Gender Differences in Spiritual Experiences, Religious Practices, and Congregational Support for Individuals with Significant Health Conditions."  It’s published in the Journal of Religion, Disability & Health.

The study finds, among other things, that during chronic illnesses, both men and women rely to various degrees on spiritual and religious support.  Spiritual and religious support includes care from congregations, religious counseling, and assistance from pastors and hospital chaplains. Religious support, for example, in the form of help, support, and comfort from local congregations, is linked to better self-rated health for men; while for women, mental health is related to daily spiritual experiences, forgiveness, and religious and spiritual coping.

One of the study’s co-authors is quoted as follows:

“Our findings reinforce the idea that religion/spirituality may help buffer the negative consequences of chronic health conditions.  We know that there are many ways of coping with stressful life situations, such as a chronic illness; involvement in religious/spiritual activities can be an effective coping strategy.”  (read more) 

For me, recognizing the value of spiritual and religious support in health care is an important step in providing quality care, — because spirituality and religion shouldn’t be limited simply to mental well-being, they can be essential to maintaining physical health as well.

“I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.”  (Psalms 121:1-2)