title: Sense of Coherence in Religious Christian Orthodox Women in Greece.
abstract: Investigation of correlation between the way of life of women-secular and devoted (belonging to a Christian Orthodox fraternity)-and their stress management skills. Sample population consisted of 200 women, 100 belonging to an Orthodox Christian fraternity and 100 secular women, 18 years of age and older from the wider Thessaloniki area (North Greece). Antonovsky's Scale Sense of Coherence (SOC) was used for stress management skills evaluation. The mean SOC score was 138 (95 % CI 133.9-142.1) for secular and 149.9 (95 % CI 144.9-154.9) for devoted women. The presence of a strong sense of coherence for those women belonging to the fraternity (p = 0.004) and older age (p = 0.019) correlate with higher SOC scores. Religiousness appears to enhance stress management skills in women although additional evidence needs in support of the findings of this research.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public and Administrative Health, National School of Public Health, 196, Alexandras Ave., 11521, Athens, Greece. kmerakou@esdy.edu.gr.
authors.forename: Kyriakoula
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Merakou
authors.affiliation: Department of Protection and Promotion of Public Health, 1, King George Ave., 54640, Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece.
authors.forename: Eleni
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Xefteri
authors.affiliation: Department of Public and Administrative Health, National School of Public Health, 196, Alexandras Ave., 11521, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Anastasia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barbouni
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002835:Christianity; D005260:Female; D006115:Greece; D006801:Humans; D011594:Psychometrics; D012648:Self Care; D060685:Sense of Coherence; D029181:Spirituality; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000517:prevention & control; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Religiousness; SOC scale; Sense of coherence; Stress management skills; Women