“Whenever God Shines His Light On Me … ” Religious coping in clinical healthcare institutions

摘要

We present an overview of data collected in institutional settings in the Netherlands to make visible the significance of religious coping in these settings. These settings, that is, general psychiatry (two institutions), forensic psychiatry and nursing homes, comprise institutions in which patients with different religious backgrounds and different problems are hospitalised. The research questions are: (a) to what extent do patients use religious coping activities in dealing with their problems? (b) what are the effects of religious coping activities on well-being in these groups of patients? For the populations of inpatients in these institutions, religion was found to be an important resource for coping with their problems. Seventy-four per cent of the respondents in the nursing homes report a positive influence. The studies at the two general psychiatric settings also showed that there was a positive influence, be it somewhat less pronounced (54%). Even in the forensic hospital, the score of positive influence was 50%. The scores for negative influence are low: 16% in the general psychiatric settings, 8% in the forensic hospital and only 4% in the nursing homes. The positive influence often seems to be translated into an increased well-being: anxiety decreases and existential well-being increases. However, when the negative influence of religion is included in the analyses, it becomes clear that this negative influence determines well-being to a far greater extent.View full textDownload full textKeywordsreligious coping, well-being, clinical healthcare institutionsRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13674676.2011.579456