title: Are religiosity and spirituality useful constructs in drug treatment research?
abstract: Religiosity and spirituality (R/S) have been shown to be related to better outcomes in many health service areas, including drug abuse treatment. The latter area, however, lacks a fully emergent empirical framework to guide further study. Moreover, although scientists have tested isolated hypotheses, no comprehensive process model has been designed and validated, limiting conceptual development as well. This paper reviews the relevant R/S and health research literature with a primary focus on drug treatment processes. Then a conceptual model is suggested to guide future incremental study of R/S assessment and intervention development. Implications for addiction health services include increased efforts to empirically validate R/S interventions, to increase practitioner competencies in this area, and to disseminate relevant research findings.
authors.affiliation: Integrated Substance Abuse Programs, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, 1640 S. Sepulveda Boulevard, Suite 200, Los Angeles, CA 90025-7535, USA.
authors.forename: Douglas
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Longshore
authors.forename: M Douglas
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Anglin
authors.forename: Bradley T
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Conner
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D012068:Religion and Medicine; D012944:Social Support; D029181:Spirituality; D016320:Substance Abuse Treatment Centers / Q000379:methods*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome