title: Aspects of spirituality in medical doctors and their relation to specific views of illness and dealing with their patients' individual situation.
abstract: We intended to analyse which aspects of spirituality are of relevance for medical doctors in a mostly secular society and how their spiritual/religious attitudes are related to specific views of illness, their dealing with patients' individual situation, and finally physicians' life satisfaction. Data from an anonymous survey enrolling 237 medical doctors from Germany (mean age 45.7 ± 9.6, 58% male, 42% female) indicated that secular forms of spirituality scored highest, while specific religious orientation had the lowest scores. Physicians with a specific specialization in complementary/alternative medicine (CAM) or anthroposophic medicine differed from their conventional counterparts with respect to specific aspects of spirituality; however, the specific views associated with these specialisations were only weakly to moderately correlated with physicians' view on the meaning of illness and how they assume that they would deal with their patients' individual situation. Of interest, the specific aspects of spirituality were negatively correlated with the view of "illness as a meaningless interruption" of life, indicating that physicians with a spiritual attitude would see illness also as a chance for an "individual development" and associated with a "biographical meaning" rather than just a "useless interruption" of life.
authors: Institute of Integrative Medicine, Witten/Herdecke University, Gerhard-Kienle-Weg 4, 58313 Herdecke, Germany ; Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS), Freiburg University, 79104 Freiburg, Germany.
authors: Arndt
authors: A
authors: Büssing
authors: Almut Tabea
authors: AT
authors: Hirdes
authors: Klaus
authors: K
authors: Baumann
authors: Niels Christian
authors: NC
authors: Hvidt
authors: Peter
authors: P
authors: Heusser
references: Ann Intern Med. 1981 Apr;94(4 pt 1):492-8
references: 7212508
references: Am J Hosp Palliat Care. 2008 Apr-May;25(2):112-20
references: 18198363
references: Med Care. 2006 May;44(5):446-53
references: 16641663
references: Pain Med. 2013 Sep;14(9):1362-73
references: 23870113
references: Psychol Rep. 2004 Feb;94(1):351-6
references: 15077789
references: Lancet. 2003 Dec;362 Suppl:s28-9
references: 14698119
references: Med Educ. 2007 May;41(5):476-86
references: 17470077
references: Health Qual Life Outcomes. 2005 Sep 06;3:53
references: 16144546
references: Eur J Med Res. 2009 Apr 16;14(4):171-7
references: 19380290
references: Clinics (Sao Paulo). 2005 Apr;60(2):143-50
references: 15880251
references: Am J Health Behav. 2005 May-Jun;29(3):206-14
references: 15899684
references: J Gen Intern Med. 2005 Jul;20(7):629-34
references: 16050858