Why Not Find Out Whether Religious Beliefs Predict Surgical Outcomes? If They Do, Why Not Find Out Why? Reply to Freedland (2004).

Abstract

In this reply to K. E. Freedland's (2004) comments on R. J. Contrada et al. (2004), it is shown that the statistical issues he raised, and his preferred interpretation of the findings, were adequately addressed in the original article. It is argued that methodological limitations also were fully characterized and do not differ in kind from those of biomedical studies. Other issues discussed include the merits of focusing on distal versus proximal causation, plausibility of explanatory mechanisms for health effects of religious involvement, and potential practical applications that do not require manipulation of religious involvement. The article is concluded by commenting on subtle aspects of discourse that may unnecessarily polarize discussions of possible physical health effects of religious involvement.

Qualidade de vida e bem-estar espiritual em universitários de Psicologia

“…Internacionalmente, a literatura científica apresenta trabalhos nos quais são explorados aspectos de espiritualidade no tratamento de doenças crônicas, na melhora de quadros clínicos graves e no restabelecimento pós-cirúrgico (Contratada et al, 2004a;Contratada et al, 2004b;Freedland, 2004). Há, também um grande número de investigações que relacionam a espiritualidade com qualidade de vida (Hill & Pargament, 2003;Miller & Thoresen, 2003;Powell, Sahabi & Thoresen, 2003;Seeman, Dubin & Sebeman, 2003), e mesmo pode-se citar a criação de inventários de espiritualidade (Culliford, 2002;Fee & Ingram, 2004;Vash, 2001).…”

Depression, Anxiety and Heart Failure: A Review

“…143 Research that moves the field beyond global religiosity/spirituality indicators to a more complex, thorough assessment of religiosity/spirituality and HRQL in patients with HF is needed.…”