Religiousness and preoperative anxiety: a correlational study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Major life changes are among factors that cause anxiety, and one of these changes is surgery. Emotional reactions to surgery have specific effects on the intensity and velocity as well as the process of physical disease. In addition, they can cause delay in patients recovery. This study is aimed at determining the relationship between religious beliefs and preoperative anxiety.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This survey is a correlational study to assess the relationship between religious beliefs and preoperative anxiety of patients undergoing abdominal, orthopaedic, and gynaecologic surgery in educational hospitals. We used the convenience sampling method. The data collection instruments included a questionnaire containing the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and another questionnaire formulated by the researcher with queries on religious beliefs and demographic characteristics as well as disease-related information. Analysis of the data was carried out with SPSS software using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results were arranged in three tables.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The findings showed that almost all the subjects had high level of religiosity and moderate level of anxiety. In addition, there was an inverse relationship between religiosity and intensity of anxiety, though this was not statistically significant.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The results of this study can be used as evidence for presenting religious counselling and spiritual interventions for individuals undergoing stress. Finally, based on the results of this study, the researcher suggested some recommendations for applying results and conducting further research.</p

Effects of religious vs. standard cognitive behavioral therapy on therapeutic alliance: A randomized clinical trial

Background: Treatments that integrate religious clients' beliefs into therapy may enhance the therapeutic alliance (TA) in religious clients. Objective: Compare the effects of religiously integrated cognitive behavioral therapy (RCBT) and standard CBT (SCBT) on TA in adults with major depression and chronic medical illness. Method: Multi-site randomized controlled trial in 132 participants, of whom 108 (SCBT = 53, RCBT = 55) completed the Revised Helping Alliance Questionnaire (HAQ-II) at 4, 8, and 12 weeks. Trajectory of change in scores over time was compared between groups. Results: HAQ-II score at 4 weeks predicted a decline in depressive symptoms over time independent of treatment group (B = −0.06, SE = 0.02, p = 0.002, n = 108). There was a marginally significant difference in HAQ-II scores at 4 weeks that favored RCBT (p = 0.076); however, the mixed effects model indicated a significant group by time interaction that favored the SCBT group (B = 1.84, SE = 0.90, degrees of freedom = 181, t = 2.04, p = 0.043, d = 0.30). Conclusions: While RCBT produces a marginally greater improvement in TA initially compared with SCBT, SCBT soon catches up

Religiosity and decreased risk of substance use disorders: is the effect mediated by social support or mental health status?

The negative association between religiosity (religious beliefs and church attendance) and the likelihood of substance use disorders is well established, but the mechanism(s) remain poorly understood. We investigated whether this association was mediated by social support or mental health status. We utilized cross-sectional data from the 2002 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (n = 36,370). We first used logistic regression to regress any alcohol use in the past year on sociodemographic and religiosity variables. Then, among individuals who drank in the past year, we regressed past year alcohol abuse/dependence on sociodemographic and religiosity variables. To investigate whether social support mediated the association between religiosity and alcohol use and alcohol abuse/dependence we repeated the above models, adding the social support variables. To the extent that these added predictors modified the magnitude of the effect of the religiosity variables, we interpreted social support as a possible mediator. We also formally tested for mediation using path analysis. We investigated the possible mediating role of mental health status analogously. Parallel sets of analyses were conducted for any drug use, and drug abuse/dependence among those using any drugs as the dependent variables. The addition of social support and mental health status variables to logistic regression models had little effect on the magnitude of the religiosity coefficients in any of the models. While some of the tests of mediation were significant in the path analyses, the results were not always in the expected direction, and the magnitude of the effects was small. The association between religiosity and decreased likelihood of a substance use disorder does not appear to be substantively mediated by either social support or mental health status

EQ-5D-3L Derived Population Norms for Health Related Quality of Life in Sri Lanka

Background Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) is an important outcome measure in health economic evaluation that guides health resource allocations. Population norms for HRQoL are an essential ingredient in health economics and in the evaluation of population health. The aim of this study was to produce EQ-5D-3L-derived population norms for Sri Lanka. Method A population sample (n =  780) was selected from four districts of Sri Lanka. A stratified cluster sampling approach with probability proportionate to size was employed. Twenty six clusters of 30 participants each were selected; each participant completed the EQ-5D-3L in a face-to-face interview. Utility weights for their EQ-5D-3L health states were assigned using the Sri Lankan EQ-5D-3L algorithm. The population norms are reported by age and socio-economic variables. Results The EQ-5D-3L was completed by 736 people, representing a 94% response rate. Sixty per cent of the sample reported being in full health. The percentage of people responding to any problems in the five EQ-5D-3L dimensions increased with age. The mean EQ-5D-3L weight was 0.85 (SD 0.008; 95%CI 0.84-0.87). The mean EQ-5D-3L weight was significantly associated with age, housing type, disease experience and religiosity. People above 70 years of age were 7.5 times more likely to report mobility problems and 3.7 times more likely to report pain/discomfort than those aged 18-29 years. Those with a tertiary education were five times less likely to report any HRQoL problems than those without a tertiary education. A person living in a shanty was 4.3 more likely to have problems in usual activities than a person living in a single house. Conclusion The population norms in Sri Lanka vary with socio-demographic characteristics. The socioeconomically disadvantaged have a lower HRQoL. The trends of population norms observed in this lower middle income country were generally similar to those previously reported in high income countries

Homing Pigeons Only Navigate in Air with Intact Environmental Odours: A Test of the Olfactory Activation Hypothesis with GPS Data Loggers

A large body of evidence has shown that anosmic pigeons are impaired in their navigation. However, the role of odours in navigation is still subject to debate. While according to the olfactory navigation hypothesis homing pigeons possess a navigational map based on the distribution of environmental odours, the olfactory activation hypothesis proposes that odour perception is only needed to activate a navigational mechanism based on cues of another nature. Here we tested experimentally whether the perception of artificial odours is sufficient to allow pigeons to navigate, as expected from the olfactory activation hypothesis. We transported three groups of pigeons in air-tight containers to release sites 53 and 61 km from home in three different olfactory conditions. The Control group received natural environmental air; both the Pure Air and the Artificial Odour groups received pure air filtered through an active charcoal filter. Only the Artificial Odour group received additional puffs of artificial odours until release. We then released pigeons while recording their tracks with 1 Hz GPS data loggers. We also followed non-homing pigeons using an aerial data readout to a Cessna plane, allowing, for the first time, the tracking of non-homing homing pigeons. Within the first hour after release, the pigeons in both the Artificial Odour and the Pure Air group (receiving no environmental odours) showed impaired navigational performances at each release site. Our data provide evidence against an activation role of odours in navigation, and document that pigeons only navigate well when they perceive environmental odours

Baseline Religion Involvement Predicts Subsequent Salivary Cortisol Levels Among Male But not Female Black Youth

Background: Compared to Whites, Blacks are exposed to higher levels of chronic stress in the United States. As a result, major Black-White differences exist in the baseline and response of cortisol. Yet, the potential association between baseline religiosity and subsequent cortisol levels of Blacks are not known. Objectives: In the current study we aimed to determine the association between baseline religious behaviors and daytime salivary cortisol level among male and female Black youth. Materials and Methods: With a longitudinal design, data came from wave 1 (1994) and wave 6 (2000) of a cohort from an urban area in the Midwest of the United States. The study followed 227 Black adolescents (109 males and 118 females) for six years. Socio-demographics and religious behaviors (frequency of participation in religious activities) were measured at baseline. Base morning cortisol level at wave 6 was the outcome. We fitted a linear regression model to test the association between baseline religiosity at wave 1 and cortisol level at wave 6, while baseline age, socio-economics, and psychological symptoms were controlled. Results: In the pooled sample, frequency of participation in religious activities at baseline was negatively associated with mean cortisol level at follow up (r = -0.29, P > 0.01) among all, males (r = -0.38, P > 0.01), but not females (r = -.20, P > 0.05). Frequency of participation in religious activities remained a significant predictor of subsequent cortisol level (b = -0.283, 95% CI = -.107 - -0.022) while the effect of age, socioeconomics, and psychological symptoms were controlled. We could only find such an association among male Black youth (b = -0.368, 95% CI = -0.148 - -0.024) but not female Black youth (b = -0.229, 95% CI = -.113 - 0.011). Conclusions: Religiosity has been used as a coping mechanism among Blacks. Religiosity may also be related to stress regulation among Black youth. Future studies need to test complex associations between race, sex, religiosity, chronic stress, coping, and function of hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA). It is not known whether male Black youth who are and those who are not religious differently cope with stress associated with daily discrimination and living in disadvantaged neighborhoods