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Religiousness among terminally ill and healthy adults
Author(s) -
Reed Pamela G.
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
research in nursing and health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1098-240X
pISSN - 0160-6891
DOI - 10.1002/nur.4770090107
Subject(s) - terminally ill , conceptualization , psychology , medicine , clinical psychology , gerontology , palliative care , nursing , artificial intelligence , computer science
The purpose of this study was to compare terminally ill with healthy adults for differences in religiousness; sense of well‐being also was explored. This study was based upon a conceptualization of dying as a developmental phase of life. It was hypothesized that terminally ill adults report greater religiousness than healthy adults. A terminally ill and a healthy group with 57 adults each were matched on four key variables: age, gender, education, and religious affiliation. All 114 participants completed two questionnaires: the Religious Perspective Scale and the Index of Well‐Being. A t ‐test of differences between the group means supported the hypothesis ( t (112) = 3.11, p < .001). There was no difference between the groups on sense of well‐being; both indicated moderately high levels of well‐being. A positive relationship between religiousness and well‐being was found in the healthy group ( r = .43, p < .001), but not in the terminally ill group.