title: Jewish physicians' beliefs and practices regarding religion/spirituality in the clinical encounter.
abstract: We used data from a 2003 survey of US physicians to examine differences between Jewish and other religiously affiliated physicians on 4-D of physicians' beliefs and practices regarding religion and spirituality (R/S) in the clinical encounter. On each dimension, Jewish physicians ascribed less importance to the effect of R/S on health and a lesser role for physicians in addressing R/S issues. These effects were partially mediated by lower levels of religiosity among Jewish physicians and by differences in demographic and practice-level characteristics. The study provides a salient example of how religious affiliation can be an important independent predictor of physicians' clinically-relevant beliefs and practices.
authors.affiliation: Pritzker School of Medicine, The University of Chicago, 5841 S Maryland Ave, MC 2007, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. sternrm@uchicago.edu
authors.forename: Robert M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Stern
authors.forename: Kenneth A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Rasinski
authors.forename: Farr A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Curlin
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel / Q000208:ethnology*; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D002835:Christianity; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007585:Jews / Q000523:psychology*; D007599:Judaism / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D012068:Religion and Medicine; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology