Considering religion and spirituality in precision medicine

Abstract

The emerging era of precision medicine (PM) holds great promise for patient care by considering individual, environmental, and lifestyle factors to optimize treatment. Context is centrally important to PM, yet, to date, little attention has been given to the unique context of religion and spirituality (R/S) and their applicability to PM. R/S can support and reinforce health beliefs and behaviors that affect health outcomes. The purpose of this article is to discuss how R/S can be considered in PM at multiple levels of context and recommend strategies for integrating R/S in PM. We conducted a descriptive, integrative literature review of R/S at the individual, institutional, and societal levels, with the aim of focusing on R/S factors with a high level of salience to PM. We discuss the utility of considering R/S in the suitability and uptake of PM prevention and treatment strategies by providing specific examples of how R/S influences health beliefs and practices at each level. We also propose future directions in research and practice to foster greater understanding and integration of R/S to enhance the acceptability and patient responsiveness of PM research approaches and clinical practices. Elucidating the context of R/S and its value to PM can advance efforts toward a more whole-person and patient-centered approach to improve individual and population health.

A Review and Considerations on Palliative Care Improvements for African Americans With Cancer

“…Religion and spirituality are important to more than three-quarters of African American patients, and there may be a component of belief about the importance of suffering at the end of life for redemption or the need to emulate Jesus. 23 Other African Americans may rely more on complementary or alternative therapies or prayer. 24 Recently, there has been acknowledgement of the incidence and impact of implicit bias within health care.…”

A systematic review and meta‐analysis of effects of psychosocial interventions on spiritual well‐being in adults with cancer

“…Religion and spirituality (R/S) are important aspects of many cancer patients' lives and salient to coping with cancer and its treatment 1‐5 . Despite conceptual challenges in defining constructs within R/S, 6,7 ‘spiritual well‐being’ (SpWb) is one clinically useful way of describing this important area of life for many patients.…”

Religious Perspectives on Precision Medicine in Singapore

“…It is worth noting that this prior research on religion and PM (Yeary et al 2020;Sanderson et al 2017;Sheppard et al 2018), or more broadly on religiosity and views on genetic testing and genomic research (Kinney et al 2006;Lee et al 2019), are nearly exclusively based in the USA and may not be reflective of the relationship (if any) between religiosity and views on PM in Singapore or other Asian countries. Therefore, it is important to consider whether PM research and governance processes need to address specific religious considerations in relation to PM in Singapore.…”

“…This Perspective summarises the outcomes of knowledge exchange in a facilitated workshop with religious authorities in Singapore (see Annex A in the Supplementary Material) to share their perspectives on PM, and data sharing with the organizations in the public and private sectors. To date, there has been little published about the role of religion and spirituality in relation to the ethical challenges of PM (Prosperi et al 2018;Fisher et al 2020) or public attitudes to PM (Yeary et al 2020;Sanderson et al 2017). Broadly speaking, we know that religious views and practices influence health behaviours and treatment efficacy (Fisher et al 2020;Ogden 2016) and that religiosity has been associated with a lack of faith in science (Johnson et al 2015).…”