title: Physicians in the USA: Attendance, Beliefs and Patient Interactions.
abstract: While much religion-health research depends on social support explanations, little is known about whether religious support is also a part of clinical interactions. How many physicians include religious/spiritual topics in clinical conversations? What characteristics are related to inclusion or avoidance? Using a national sample (n = 1,144), this study provides an overview of religious beliefs and practices of physicians in the USA and their patient interactions. Physician attendance rates are related to the inclusion of religious/spiritual topics, but the religious/spiritual orientation of physicians more closely relates to religious/spiritual patient interactions. Further, some physician specialties have more religious/spiritual physicians than others, providing additional reason to think religious/spiritual patient conversations are not equally distributed throughout the medical landscape.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology and Social Work, Hope College, 41 Graves Place, Holland, MI, 49423-3617, USA, franzen@hope.edu.
authors.forename: Aaron B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Franzen
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012068:Religion and Medicine; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States