A mixed-methods approach to understanding the role of religion and spirituality in healthcare provider well-being.

Abstract

The objective of the current study was to define the religious and spiritual (R&S) beliefs of healthcare providers and examine how those beliefs translate into clinical practice. A mixed-methods approach was used to administer and analyze an online survey that included individual-level, occupational, and R&S demographic questions, The Duke University Religion Index, and open-ended questions about the use of R&S in clinical practice. Analyses included descriptive statistics (quantitative [QUAN]), content analysis (qualitative [QUAL]), and chi-square test of independence and Fisher's exact test (QUAN ϩ QUAL). The final analytic cohort was composed of 387 participants. Providers included primary care (26.9%), nurses (27.1%), allied health (23.5%), and mental health (22.5%) professionals. Most participants reported being religious and spiritual (42.9%), followed by only spiritual (36.6%) or neither (20.3%). More providers acknowledged using R&S for coping with work-related stress rather than for clinical decision-making. Still, the use of R&S associated with patient morbidity, mortality, and end-of-life issues emerged as a subtheme for both topics. Overall, there was no difference among provider groups relative to the use of R&S in clinical decision-making and in coping (p ϭ .350 and p ϭ .746, respectively). Among respondents who did use R&S, there were differences among provider groups on how R&S beliefs were used (both ps Ͻ .05). Understanding the role of R&S among healthcare providers may be necessary for addressing and targeting interventions to improve symptoms of burnout and healthcare provider well-being.

The Impact of US Nurses’ Personal Religious and Spiritual Beliefs on Their Mental Well-Being and Burnout: A Path Analysis

“…In other clinical personnel, there is evidence of a negative association between spirituality and burnout, depression, and anxiety (Doolittle et al 2013;Hsiao et al 2012;Wachholtz and Rogoff 2013). Nurses have been reported to rely on r/s when coping directly with death and dying (Palmer Kelly et al 2019).…”

Development and psychometric testing of quality nursing care scale in Mongolia

“…Supportive environment, human interaction and religiosity/spirituality are important components of quality of healthcare services; furthermore, these attributes of a healthcare system which reflect the quality of services can accelerate the recovery rate and improve overall health of patients [ 30 , 31 ]. Under the domain of Social Milieu, the focus of quality of nursing care is on the efforts and attention of the nursing professionals in creating a social environment for patients to promote patients’ safety and to ascertain their security and privacy.…”

Preferences and influence of the value of health in the contemporary Czech population

“…Even if we explain the differences to the previous question another question still remains: why do those people who refuse religion have such a low level of preferences of HV? One possible answer is that the attitude to institutional religion is connected with a general distrust in institutions (especially religious -Vido, 2019) and the HV specifically points out and represents the complexity of societal institutions who serve to provide health, medical and social care (Palmer Kelly et al, 2019). This opinion could be supported by another result concerning attitudes to religion in the relationship with HV, namely the highest level of preferences of HV (9.39) which has been measured among people who think religion could be helpful for some, but has no value for them.…”