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Psychiatrists and Religious Belief

We examined impediments to participation in faith communities by interviewing three groups of patients (N=40 each): patients with chronic psychiatric illness, patients with acute psychiatric illness, and a control group of medical-surgical patients. Participants in the control group were matched with participants in the chronic group on gender, race-ethnicity, and age. To partially control for socioeconomic status, all participants in the control group were recipients of Medicaid benefits or Medicare and Medicaid benefits. Participants in the chronic group were inpatients at a state psychiatric hospital in upstate New York. The acute care participants and the medical-surgical participants were patients at a large tertiary care hospital adjacent to the psychiatric hospital. Interviews were done in 1998.

Of the 120 participants, 66 (55%) were male, and 54 (45%) were female. A total of 79 patients (66%) were European American, 35 (29%) were African American, four (3%) were Hispanic, and two (2%) were in the "other" category. Forty-seven participants (39%) reported being Protestant, 41 (34%) were Roman Catholic, four (3%) were Jewish, three (3%) were Muslim, and 15 (13%) were in the "other" category. The individual interviews included open-ended questions, questions on specific impediments to participation in faith communities, and the Duke University Religion Index (4).

A one-way analysis of variance found no statistically significant differences in impediments among the groups, but the order of impediments differed. The most frequently endorsed item in the acute psychiatric and medical-surgical groups was lack of transportation, whereas for patients with chronic illness the most frequently endorsed item was "past experiences of being made to feel unwelcome." Other items endorsed by participants included not having the proper clothing to wear, fear of being made to feel unwelcome, not having money to put in the offering, being uncomfortable with groups of people, inconvenient time of the worship service, and difficulty sitting through the service.

Each of the 84 participants (70%) for whom faith was important reported that one or more of the impediments made it difficult to participate in a religious community at least some of the time. Thus it appears that being sick and poor makes it difficult to remain connected to a faith community. Recipients of mental health services, as well as people with low incomes who have chronic medical problems, may need assistance from caregivers if they are to be part of faith communities.

Marsha Cutting, M.Div., Ph.D., William N. Grosch, M.Div., M.D. and Janice Browning, M.D.

Footnotes

 
Dr. Cutting is affiliated with Waterloo Lutheran Seminary, Waterloo, Ontario. Dr. Grosch is with the Department of Psychiatry, Albany Medical College, Albany, New York. Dr. Browning is with the Greenville County Department of Mental Health, Greenville, South Carolina.

References

TOP References

 

1. Kendler KS, Liu XQ, Gardner CO, et al: Dimensions of religiosity and their relationship to lifetime psychiatric and substance use disorders. American Journal of Psychiatry 160:496–503,2003[Abstract/Free Full Text]
2. Seybold KS, Hill PC: The role of religion and spirituality in mental and physical health. Current Directions in Psychological Science 10:21–24,2001[CrossRef]
3. Fitchett G, Burton LA, Sivan AB: The religious needs and resources of psychiatric inpatients. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 185:320–326,1997[CrossRef][Medline]
4. Koenig H, Parkerson GR Jr, Meador KG: Religion index for psychiatric research. American Journal of Psychiatry 154:885–886,1997[Medline]

Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Email this article to a Colleague Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to My Articles & Searches Download to citation manager Citing Articles via Google Scholar Articles by Cutting, M. Articles by Browning, J. Search for Related Content PubMed Citation Articles by Cutting, M. Articles by Browning, J. Chronically Mentally Ill Patients Patient Admission, Discharge Patient Satisfaction, Quality of Life Hospitals, Hospital Treatment Quality of Care, Practice Guidelines Other Health Services Issues Atypical Neuroleptics Related Articles

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