How are religion and spirituality related to health? A study of physicians' perspectives.
BACKGROUND
Despite expansive medical literature regarding spirituality and medicine, little is known about physician beliefs regarding the influence of religion on health.


METHODS
Semistructured interviews with 21 physicians regarding the intersection of religion, spirituality, and medicine. Interviews were transcribed, coded, and analyzed for emergent themes through an iterative process of qualitative textual analysis.


RESULTS
All participants believed religion influences health, but they did not emphasize the influence of religion on outcomes. Instead, they focused on ways that religion provides a paradigm for understanding and making decisions related to illness and a community in which illness is experienced. Religion was described as beneficial when it enables patients to cope with illness but harmful when it leads to psychological conflict or conflict with medical recommendations.


CONCLUSIONS
Empirical evidence for a "faith-health connection" may have little influence on physicians' conceptions of and approaches to religion in the patient encounter.
Curlin
Farr A
FA
Section of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Pritzker School of Medicine, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. fcurlin@medicine.bsd.uchicago.edu
Roach
Chad J
CJ
Gorawara-Bhat
Rita
R
Lantos
John D
JD
Chin
Marshall H
MH
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005260:Female; D006262:Health; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D010820:Physicians; D012068:Religion and Medicine; D029181:Spirituality; D014481:United States