Nursing home care: exploring the role of religiousness in the mental health, quality of life and stress of formal caregivers

Abstract

Despite the high number of studies on family caregivers, there is little research on the impact of religiosity on formal caregiving (paid providers). We examine the role of religiousness in the mental health, quality of life and stress of nurse aides (NA) who provide care for patients in a nursing home. NA in a Brazilian nursing home were invited to participate. Because of its coping function, we hypothesized that religiousness was related to better mental health and quality of life. Linear regression was used to test this hypothesis and control for confounders. Compared with the Brazilian general population, NA scored higher on measures of religious involvement. Intrinsic religiosity was associated with better mental health and quality of life. Organizational religiosity was associated with better social functioning, better general mental health and fewer anxiety symptoms. Non-organizational religiosity (prayer), however, was associated with negative outcomes, such as higher stress, poorer general health perceptions and more anxiety symptoms. Most NA indicated that they had prayed for and with their patients. In conclusion, paid caregivers (NA) have a strong sense of religiousness, which plays an important role in many ways, including the type of care they provide, their mental health and their quality of life.

Management of Role Stress Among the Malaysian Primary School Teachers

“…In addition, the top management should also emphasize on the element of spirituality in addressing stress issues. This is in line with the study done by Lucchetti et al (2014), Iyer et al (2015 and Zahra et al (2016).…”

“…It is not surprising that teachers are facing stress in their work too. This can be proven by the numerous studies and discussions on job stress among teachers in the recent years (Lucchetti et al, 2014;Iyer & Mahesh, 2015;Zahra, Mohammad Abdi, Reza, Mostafa, Vahid, & Hesam, 2016).…”

Burnout, psychological morbidity and use of coping mechanisms among palliative care practitioners: A multi-centre cross-sectional study

“…This is comparable to other studies on the importance of spirituality in helping with coping in internal medicine residents 30 and nursing aides. 31 We postulate that spirituality may help tide a ‘weary’ PCP through the ‘hard times’ as their spiritual beliefs may help them to cope against DP and guide them internally to believe in a sense of personal mission and accomplishment.…”

Religiosity Among U.S. Chinese Older Adults in the Greater Chicago Area—Findings From the PINE Study

“…Asian Americans have been consistently underrepresented and treated as a homogeneous group in most prior studies, which fails to distinguish the differences in cultural beliefs, health behaviors, and genetic inheritance among the diverse subgroups (Holland & Palaniappan, 2012). Specifically, there has been a paucity of research on the religious belief and religious involvement among Chinese older adults in the U.S. (Caplan, Sawyer, Holt, & Brown, 2014; Daverio-Zanetti et al, 2014; Lucchetti et al, 2014). …”