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"What makes the book's approach so captivating is that each...chapter is written by a different researcher in the study of religion and health. These researchers are responsible for significant portions of the existing literature and methodologies found in this field today....The versatility of the book warrants special mention. It is effective as a survey of work that has already been done on this topic. At the same time, it serves as a wellspring of ideas for new research....This work makes a valuable contribution to the present understanding of research on religion and health. It also serves as a road map to help chart directions for future endeavors in the field."--Sociology of Religion This volume focuses on the ways in which religious institutions, religious practices, and religious organizations impact the health and well-being of older persons. Topics examined include: the conceptualization and measurement of religion in late life the relationship between religious coping and possible stress reduction the role of forgiveness as an alternate mediator how social class, gender, and race can influence the specific effect of religion and religious institutions in a diverse aging society Contributors include L. Chatters, K. Ferraro, L. K. George, E. Idler, S. McFadden, and K. Meador.
This book brings together key scholars and practitioners from a range of fields in order to advance epidemiological and gerontological research into the role of religion in physical, psychosocial and mental health. Part One addresses such issues as hope, forgiveness, the psychodynamics of faith and belief, and coping in a theoretical context. Part Two seeks to advance the methodological sophistication of research in this area, with an emphasis on measurement and design issues.
This important book examines the relationship between religion and mental health throughout the life cycle, with a special emphasis on later life. It asserts that successful aging is possible regardless of physical health or environmental circumstances, and that religious beliefs and behaviors may facilitate successful aging. Aging and God thoroughly examines the effects of religion and mental health on aging and provides a centralized resource of up-to-date references of research in the field. It focuses on recent findings, theoretical issues, and implications for clinical practice and contains ideas for further research. In Aging and God, you’ll also find information on project design that can help you develop grant applications and carry out studies. Aging and God is a helpful book for both mental health and religious professionals. It helps mental health specialists better understand the spiritual needs of older adults and the impact that religion can have on facilitating mental health. It also describes how religion can be utilized in clinical practice and integrated into psychotherapeutic approaches to older patients. The book brings religious professionals current knowledge of the major psychological problems that older adults face and how religion can be used to help alleviate these problems. Full of pertinent information, Aging and God addresses theoretical aspects of human development, focusing on cognitive, moral, and religious faith development examines situations and disorders of particular concern to older persons and looks at how religion can be used as a resource applies research findings to the problem of meeting the spiritual and mental health needs of elders with chronic or acute health problems provides an in-depth look at end-of-life issues such as physician-assisted suicide Hospital and nursing home chaplains will find this book informative and encouraging, as will gerontologists, hospital administrators, and community clergy faced with increasingly older congregations. It gives mental health professionals new strategies to help improve the later years of older adults, and makes an excellent text for courses on religion, mental health, and aging. Middle-aged and older adults, as well as their families, will also find Aging and God enjoyable and inspiring as they attempt to grapple with the myriad adjustment and coping problems associated with aging.
Is Religion Good for Your Health? takes you deep into the heart of the ageless debate on the importance of religion and faith to physical and mental health. On the one hand, you will learn about important research findings from cross-sectional, longitudinal, and intervention studies that have demonstrated positive effects of religious belief on both mental and physical health. On the other hand, you will learn how the vast clinical experiences of leading health experts suggest that religion can have negative effects on health. Integral to the book’s exploration of the relationship between health and religion are the trends that have occurred in society over the last century. You will learn about significant demographic changes, changes in health and health care, and shifts in values, attitudes, and religious conviction, all of which have direct implications for health care providers, the clergy, the “baby boomers,” and older adults. From Author Harold Koenig, a leading expert on religion and health who has frequently been interviewed by major broadcasting networks such as ABC, National Public Radio, the British Broadcasting Corporation, NBC, CBS, and “Ivanhoe Broadcast News,” you will also learn about: pathological uses of religion the need for cooperation and collaboration between health and religious professionals studies on the relationship of religious beliefs and practice to physical conditions such as blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and cancer links between religious behavior and depression, anxiety, and drug use the waning of religion’s influence in America first-hand accounts from patients who have faced painful and/or life-threatening illness As Is Religion Good for Your Health? analyzes the pathological aspects of religion, you will begin to understand how religious beliefs have the capacity to strongly influence people’s lives and their health, whether positively or negatively. Health care providers, public policy experts, religious professionals, medical researchers, and medical students will find the book’s overview of the issues at stake, particularly the implications for our public health care system, crucial to the advancement of health care practice into the next century.
"The 2001 edition (1st) was a comprehensive review of history, research, and discussions on religion and health through the year 2000. The Appendix listed 1,200 separate quantitative studies on religion and health each rated in quality on 0-10 scale, followed by about 2,000 references and an extensive index for rapid topic identification. The 2012 edition (2nd) of the Handbook systematically updated the research from 2000 to 2010, with the number of quantitative studies then reaching the thousands. This 2022 edition (3rd) is the most scientifically rigorous addition to date, covering the best research published through 2021 with an emphasis on prospective studies and randomized controlled trials. Beginning with a Foreword by Dr. Howard K. Koh, former US Assistant Secretary for Health for the Department of Health and Human Services, this nearly 600,000-word volume examines almost every aspect of health, reviewing past and more recent research on the relationship between religion and health outcomes. Furthermore, nearly all of its 34 chapters conclude with clinical and community applications making this text relevant to both health care professionals (physicians, nurses, social workers, rehabilitation therapists, counsellors, psychologists, sociologists, etc.) and clergy (community clergy, chaplains, pastoral counsellors, etc.). The book's extensive Appendix focuses on the best studies, describing each study in a single line, allowing researchers to quickly locate the existing research. It should not be surprising that for Handbook for the past two decades has been the most cited of all references on religion and health"--
This book, first published in 1989, attempts to identify from within religious cultures those elements of tradition, behaviour and lifestyle that are health protective in that, by adhering to them, physical, mental and social wellbeing will be maintained as people grow old. It examines how different faith traditions view aging and its impact on health.
This book presents a comprehensive and scientific review of the research during the past fifty years on the relationship between religion and health in later life. It will help professionals gain awareness of the importance of religious and spiritual variables among older people. The widespread interest in religion among today's elderly suggests its value as a coping strategy and personal resource. Unlike any other in the field, this volume synthesizes both past research and new findings, including recent unpublished data, into a model of how religion might interact with other variables to help determine adaptation to stress in later life. Religion, Health, and Aging provides substantial contributions to both the applied and academic aspects of religion and aging. With over 500 references this work brings together research findings from a wide variety of disciplines and organizes them in an easily retrievable format. The introduction provides a theoretical framework and model of interactions. Subsequent chapters address the relationship between religious beliefs and attitudes and both mental and physical health. Next investigated are the impacts on health of private religious activity, community religious involvement, and personal religious experience. A model that demonstrates how religion might interact with stress and illness in later life is presented. Actual cases exemplify the role of religion in the lives of older people facing life-threatening illness. Perspectives from the disciplines of social gerontology, geriatric medicine, and the clergy are analyzed. A review is presented of the implications of research findings for professionals working with older persons. A detailed bibliography, list of publications, and organizations to contact for further information, provide access to further resources. The appendix contains a review of the development and validation of the Springfield Religiosity Schedule, an instrument measuring religious activities, attitudes, and beliefs of the elderly. Religion, Health, and Aging will serve as a centralized resource of significant value to gerontologists, physicians in psychiatry and medicine, nurses, educators, therapists, clinical psychologists, social workers, the clergy, and others whose professional and personal lives touch older people.
Explore the spiritual dimensions of aging through science, theory, and practice! During the later years of life, many people devote energy to a process of spiritual awakening and self-discovery. Yet their family, friends, clergy, and the helping professionals who work with them are not always prepared to understand or deal with the spiritual concerns of their clients. Aging and Spirituality provides a unique, far-reaching overview of this long-neglected field. Divided into four independent but interwoven sections, this landmark book covers the spiritual realm with scientific rigor and deep human understanding. Aging and Spirituality comprehensively surveys the issues of spirituality, from the groundwork of basic definitions to detailed assessments of the role spirituality plays in the lives of the elderly and suggested directions for further research. This book's unique approach combines scholarly research and practical nuts-and-bolts suggestions for service delivery. By drawing from many disciplines and professions, it offers fresh perspectives to even those practitioners already familiar with the most effective spiritual techniques their own field can offer. Aging and Spirituality answers such common questions as: What are the spiritual needs of people later in life? Is there any solid evidence that prayer changes things? How is spirituality related to physical and mental health? Does spirituality matter when people know they are dying? How can we measure spiritual wellness and assess the outcomes of activities intended to enhance it? Will attention to spirituality aggravate or alleviate the losses--of friends, family, health, youth--that so often occur during old age? Aging and Spirituality provides a much-needed resource for health care professionals, clergy, social workers, and counselors working with geriatric clients. By integrating spiritual issues into the theoretical framework of social gerontology, Aging and Spirituality will help you understand the scientific foundations, practical applications, and public policy implications of spirituality for older adults.
Examine the questions of “how,” “what,” and “why” associated with religiousness and spirituality in the lives of older adults! New Directions in the Study of Late Life Religiousness and Spirituality explores new ways of thinking about a topic that was once taboo but that has now attracted considerable attention from the gerontological community. It examines various approaches to methodology and definition that are used in the study of religion, spirituality, and aging. In addition, it explores the ways that gerontological research can highlight the role of religion and spirituality in the lives of older adults. The first section will introduce you to new ways of thinking about research methodology and data analysis that can be applied to studying the complexity of older adults' religious/spiritual practice and beliefs. You'll learn several approaches to the study of phenomena that are both personal and also deeply embedded in community. The second section addresses issues of definition, exploring important questions that call for critical reflection, such as: “What are we studying?” “What social and psychological influences shape our thinking about definition?” and “Do the definitions used by gerontologists match those held by older people?” The final section moves the study of religion, spirituality, and aging beyond a focus on health and mortality to examine well-being more broadly in the context of the life experiences of older adults. Here is a small sample of what you'll learn about in New Directions in the Study of Late Life Religiousness and Spirituality: structural equation modeling—a statistical method designed to capture the dynamics inherent in the passage of time feminist qualitative methods for studying spiritual resiliency in older women spirituality as a public health issue the differences between groups of older people in the way they define religion and spirituality the psychosocial implications of two types of religious orientation—“dwelling” and “seeking” older women's responses to the experience of widowhood and to the question of whether their religious beliefs were affected by the experience how social context influences our decisions and our interpretations of people's religious beliefs, behaviors, and experiences the ways that people caring for a spouse with dementia rely on religious coping a model that delineates three different ways people relate to God in coping—and a study that asks whether these types of coping produce different outcomes for caregivers how people adjust to bereavement as a function of their beliefs about an afterlife