Relationship between private religious activity and physical functioning in older adults

Citation
Kc. Haley et al., Relationship between private religious activity and physical functioning in older adults, J RELIG H, 40(2), 2001, pp. 305-312
Citations number
23
Language
INGLESE
art.tipo
Article
Categorie Soggetti
Public Health & Health Care Science","Religion & Tehology
Journal title
JOURNAL OF RELIGION & HEALTH
ISSN journal
0022-4197 → ACNP
Volume
40
Issue
2
Year of publication
2001
Pages
305 - 312
Database
ISI
SICI code
0022-4197(200122)40:2<305:RBPRAA>2.0.ZU;2-S
Abstract
This study sought to further understand the relationship between physical f unctioning and use of private religious activity in older adults. Subjects were age 65 or older from urban and rural counties in North Carolina who pa rticipated in the Duke University Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly (Duke/EPESE). A total of 3,851 subjects responded t o a question that inquired about their use of prayer, meditation, or Bible reading in 1986. Their response was correlated to number of impairments in activities of daily living (ADLs) (n = 3,791). Subjects who indicated use o f private religious activity either daily or never had the greatest number of impairments. Those who prayed or meditated one time per week had the lea st number of impairments. This cross-sectional finding is explained in term s of both changes in private religious activity in response to increasing p hysical disability and changes in physical disability in response to privat e religious activity. Previous research has found that prayer is often used as an effective coping mechanism with various sicknesses and chronic condi tions. Further studies are needed to examine older individuals' health over time and evaluate their use of private religious activity to see its impac t over time on physical disability.