Life Satisfaction in Chronic Pain Patients: The Stress-Buffering Role of the Centrality of Religion

Abstract

Chronic pain (CP) is a stressful condition that severely impacts individuals' lives. Researchers have begun to explore the role of religion for CP patients, but the literature is scarce, especially for West European populations. Drawing from the transactional theory of stress, this study examined the associations between the religious meaning system and the life satisfaction for a group of CP patients who were members of a Flemish patients' association. To take into account the religious landscape of West European countries, the centrality of one's religious meaning system, rather than religious content, was the focus. Results from the questionnaires completed by 207 patients suggest that the centrality of a meaning system is an important factor in the promotion of life satisfaction for this group, above and beyond the influence of several control variables. Furthermore, the centrality of the religious meaning system moderated or buffered the detrimental influence of pain severity on life satisfaction.

Spirituality: What is Its Role in Pain Medicine?

“…Several other studies have found that those who consider themselves spiritual and religious or engage in religious activities score better in terms of mood, well‐being, and pain intensity than those who did not regard themselves as spiritual or religious [63,65,66]. Although some of these studies suggest an association between spiritual and religious activity and lower levels of pain intensity, the overall evidence suggests that spiritual well‐being has a stronger link with higher pain tolerance and higher levels of psychological well‐being, including satisfaction with life [67,68].…”

Sense of coherence and pain experience in older age

“…With respect to pain as an aspect of subjective physical health, the empirical evidence is mixed. On the other hand, some researchers did not find significant associations in different patient groups (Chamberlain et al, 1992;Ekman et al, 2002;Malmgren Olsson and Braenholm, 2002;Motzer et al, 2003;Lillefjell and Jakobsen, 2007) or reveal inconsistent results (Cohen et al, 2005;Dezutter et al, 2010). On the other hand, some researchers did not find significant associations in different patient groups (Chamberlain et al, 1992;Ekman et al, 2002;Malmgren Olsson and Braenholm, 2002;Motzer et al, 2003;Lillefjell and Jakobsen, 2007) or reveal inconsistent results (Cohen et al, 2005;Dezutter et al, 2010).…”

Religiousness in times of job insecurity: job demand or resource?

“…restructuring, mergers, layoffs) as part of God's plan (Mickley et al, 1998), or as a spiritual opportunity (Pargament, 1997). Furthermore, religious individuals may perceive themselves as more capable of dealing with these events, because they feel supported by God or because of their highly developed sense of spirituality (Dezutter et al, 2010;Probst and Strand, 2010). Finally, religion may also provide specific tools, including prayer, support from clergy or congregation members, meditation, and spiritual reflection, to facilitate coping (Dezutter et al, 2010).…”

“…Furthermore, religious individuals may perceive themselves as more capable of dealing with these events, because they feel supported by God or because of their highly developed sense of spirituality (Dezutter et al, 2010;Probst and Strand, 2010). Finally, religion may also provide specific tools, including prayer, support from clergy or congregation members, meditation, and spiritual reflection, to facilitate coping (Dezutter et al, 2010). As a result of these (re)-appraisal processes, highly religious individuals facing potential job loss can be assumed to experience lower levels of strain, in terms of burnout and change-oriented behaviors, than their less devout colleagues.…”