Religiosity and Religious Coping in Patients with COPD: A Cross-Sectional Comparison Between Brazil and the Netherlands and Associations with Physical and Psychological Health

Abstract

This study aimed to compare religiosity and religious coping (RC) between Brazilian and Dutch patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and to examine associations with physical and psychological health. Religiosity, RC, and physical and psychological health were cross-sectionally assessed in 161 patients with COPD (74 from Brazil and 87 from the Netherlands). Brazilian participants showed the greatest religiosity (p < 0.05), and weak correlations were observed between religiosity/RC and exercise capacity and quality of life (p < 0.05 for all analyses). Brazilian patients with COPD had higher religiosity than Dutch patients, and religiosity correlated with functional exercise capacity and quality of life.

Spirituality in people with advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – challenge for more effective interventions, support, and healthcare education: Mini-review

“…Dutch patients who reported at least a little faith in God or a spiritual power employ positive RC more often than non-believers (19). However, Brazilians applied more positive and less negative RC as compared to Dutch patients (29). Praying, support within the religious community, church attendence, sign of the cross, and icons of saints were helpful in coping with the burden of the disease among the Greek (30) and more than half of Polish COPD patients (31).…”

“…QoL of COPD patients was also shown to be associated with strategies of coping with the disease. Higher negative RC was correlated with worse QoL (19, 24, 29), while positive RC associated with a better QoL of COPD patients (29). Furthermore, positive RC positively and negative RC inversely correlated with patients' satisfaction with life (28).…”

“…The distance covered in 6MWT was strongly inversely associated with negative RC in individuals with moderate and severe COPD (27). Other publications presented negative or no associations between spirituality/religiosity and patients' functioning (17,24,29). For example, Silva et al found negative correlation between religious well-being assessed as a component of SWB and physical functioning in a sample of COPD patients with severely compromised physical function (17).…”

“…A number of studies demonstrated positive associations between SWB and quality of life (QoL) and more varied outcomes relating to associations between religiosity and QoL in COPD patients ( 17 – 19 , 22 , 24 , 29 , 34 ). A high sense of spirituality was shown to correlate with lower stress and higher QoL ( 34 ).…”

“…Similar results were reported by other authors ( 22 ), while according to others, faith subscale of FACIT-Sp score positively correlated with the scores of Multidimensional Index of Life Quality (MILQ) ( 18 ). Also increased religiosity measured with the three components of DUREL (organizational religiosity, ORA; non-organizational religiosity, NORA; and intrinsic religiosity, IR) was associated with a better QoL of COPD patients ( 29 ). Individuals having at least a little faith in God had a higher QoL compared to individuals with beliefs in a spiritual power only ( 19 ).…”