title: A preliminary survey on the religious profile of Brazilian psychiatrists and their approach to patients' religiosity in clinical practice.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although there is evidence of a relationship between religion/spirituality and mental health, it remains unclear how Brazilian psychiatrists deal with the religion/spirituality of their patients.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To explore whether Brazilian psychiatrists enquire about religion/spirituality in their practice and whether their own beliefs influence their work.
  
  
  METHODS
  Four hundred and eighty-four Brazilian psychiatrists completed a cross-sectional survey on religion/spirituality and clinical practice.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Most psychiatrists had a religious affiliation (67.4%) but more than half of the 484 participants (55.5%) did not usually enquire about patients' religion/spirituality. The most common reasons for not assessing patients' religion/spirituality were 'being afraid of exceeding the role of a doctor' (30.2%) and 'lack of training' (22.3%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Very religious/spiritual psychiatrists were the most likely to ask about their patients' religion/spirituality. Training in how to deal with a patient's religiosity might help psychiatrists to develop better patient rapport and may contribute to the patient's quicker recovery.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  None.
  © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 2016. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Non-Commercial, No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) license.
authors.affiliation: , MSc, Department and Institute of Psychiatry, University of São Paulo Medical School, São Paulo, Brazil (LIM23).
authors.forename: Maria Cecilia
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Menegatti-Chequini
authors.affiliation: , MSc, Department and Institute of Psychiatry, University of São Paulo Medical School, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Juliane P B
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Gonçalves
authors.affiliation: , MD, PhD, Department and Institute of Psychiatry, University of São Paulo Medical School, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Frederico C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Leão
authors.affiliation: , MD, PhD, Department of Neurology, Albert Einstein Hospital, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Mario F P
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Peres
authors.affiliation: , MD, PhD, Department and Institute of Psychiatry, University of São Paulo Medical School, São Paulo, Brazil (LIM23).
authors.forename: Homero
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Vallada