title: Are religious beliefs and practices of Buddhism associated with disability and salivary cortisol in office workers with chronic low back pain?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Low back pain (LBP) is common among office workers. A number of studies have established a relationship between Christianity and physical and mental health outcomes among chronic pain patients. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the religious beliefs and practices of Buddhism and disability and psychological stress in office workers with chronic LBP.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional survey was conducted with a self-administered questionnaire delivered by hand to 463 office workers with chronic LBP. Saliva samples were collected from a randomly selected sub-sample of respondents (n=96). Disability due to LBP was assessed using the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire and psychological stress was assessed based on salivary cortisol. Two hierarchical regression models were built to determine how much variance in disability and psychological stress could be explained by religious beliefs and practices of Buddhism variables after controlling for potential confounder variables.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Only 6% of variance in psychological stress was accounted for by the religious beliefs and practices of Buddhism. Those with high religiousness experienced lower psychological stress. No association between the religious beliefs and practices of Buddhism and disability level was found. Depressive symptoms were attributed to both psychological stress and disability status in our study population.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings suggest that, although being religious may improve the psychological condition in workers with chronic LBP, its effect is insufficient to reduce disability due to illness. Further research should examine the role of depression as a mediator of the effect of psychological stress on disability in patients with chronic LBP.
authors: Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.
authors: Annop
authors: A
authors: Sooksawat
authors: Prawit
authors: P
authors: Janwantanakul
authors: Tewin
authors: T
authors: Tencomnao
authors: Praneet
authors: P
authors: Pensri
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D002016:Buddhism / Q000523:psychology*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D059350:Chronic Pain / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000523:psychology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism / Q000523:psychology; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000032:analysis*; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000523:psychology; D016272:Occupational Health; D010147:Pain Measurement; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012068:Religion and Medicine; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013785:Thailand; D017132:Workplace
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D006854:Hydrocortisone