Physicians from these different three countries had very different attitudes on spirituality, religiosity, and health. Ethnicity and culture can have an important influence on how spirituality is approached in medical practice. S/R curricula that train physicians how to address spirituality in clinical practice must take these differences into account.

Abstract:Modern healthcare research has only in recent years investigated the impact of health care workers' religious and other moral values on medical practice, interaction with patients, and ethically complex decision-making. Thus far, no international data exist on the way such values vary across representatives of several national research groups came together and worked at optimizing the survey instrument for future use on the basis of the existing datasets. Research groups were identified through personal contacts with researchers requesting to use the instrument, as well as through two literature searches. Data were assembled in Stata and synchronized for their comparability using a matched intersection design based on the items in the original questionnaire. With a few optimizations and added modules appropriate for cultures more secular than that of the United States, the survey instrument holds promise as a tool for future comparative analyses. The pool at this stage consists of data from eleven studies conducted by research teams in nine different countries over six continents with responses from more than 6000 health professionals. Inspection of data between groups suggests large differences in religious and other moral values across nations and cultures, and that these values account for differences in health professional's clinical practices.

ObjectivesHealthcare workers (HCWs) are the front lines during the COVID-19 pandemic. They are more exposed to COVID-19 than other professions. Studies from other countries have shown that the mental health and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of HCWs were affected during this pandemic. However, studies on mental health in Indonesia remain scarce and no study has evaluated the HRQoL among HCWs. Thus, this study was designed to explore the mental health status and HRQoL among HCWs in Indonesia.DesignThis was a cross-sectional study.SettingThis was an open online survey in Indonesia conducted from December 2020 to February 2021.ParticipantsThis study involved HCWs who worked during the COVID-19 pandemic. Of the 502 respondents who accessed the online questionnaire, 392 were included in the analysis.OutcomesMental health status was measured using the 21-item Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale and HRQoL was measured using the second version of the 12-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF12v2).ResultsThe prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress among HCWs was 29.4%, 44.9% and 31.8%, respectively. Using the SF12v2 questionnaire, 354 (90.3%) HCWs were found to have impaired physical component and 156 (39.8%) HCWs have impaired mental component.ConclusionThe prevalence of mental health problems among HCWs was high in Indonesia. HRQoL, particularly the physical component, was affected in most HCWs. Thus, policymakers should give more attention to the mental health and HRQoL of HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Religious/spiritual (r/s) characteristics of physicians influence their attitude toward integrative medicine and spiritual care. Indonesia physicians collaborate with traditional, complementary, and alternative medicine (TCAM) professionals within modern healthcare system, while Indian physicians are not reported to do so. The aim of the study was to understand the r/s characteristics and their influence on Indian and Indonesian physicians' acceptance of TCAM/spirituality in modern healthcare system. An exploratory, pilot, cross-cultural, cross-sectional study, using Religion and Spirituality in Medicine, and Physician Perspectives (RSMPP) survey questionnaire, compared r/s characteristics and perspectives on integrative medicine of 169 physicians from two allopathic, Sweekar-Osmania University (Sweekar-OU), India, University of Airlanga (UNAIR), Indonesia, and a TCAM/Central Research Institute of Unani Medicine (CRIUM) institute from India. More physicians from UNAIR and CRIUM (89.1 %) described themselves as "very"/"moderately" religious, compared to 63.5 % Sweekar-OU (p = 0.0000). Greater number of (84.6 %) UNAIR physicians described themselves as "very" spiritual and also significantly high (p < 0.05) in intrinsic religiosity as compared to Sweekar-OU and TCAM physicians; 38.6 % of UNAIR and 32.6 % of CRIUM participants reported life-changing spiritual experiences in clinical settings as against 19.7 % of Sweekar-OU; 92.3 % of UNAIR, compared to CRIUM (78.3 %) and Sweekar-OU (62 %), felt comfortable attending to patients' spiritual needs, (p = 0.0001). Clinical comfort and not r/s characteristics of participants was the significant (p = 0.05) variable in full regression models, predictive of primary outcome criteria; "TCAM or r/s healing as complementary to allopathic treatment." In conclusion, mainstreaming TCAM into healthcare system may be an initial step toward both integrative medicine and also improving r/s care interventions by allopathic physicians.

Collaboration within the recently established Network for Research on Spirituality and Health (NERSH) has made it possible to pool data from 14 different surveys from six continents. All surveys are largely based on the questionnaire by Curlin "Religion and Spirituality in Medicine, Perspectives of Physicians" (RSMPP). This article is a methodological description of the process of building the International NERSH Data Pool. The larger contours of the data are described using frequency statistics. Five subscales in the data pool (including the already established DUREL scale) were tested using Cronbach's alpha and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) in an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA). 5724 individuals were included, of which 57% were female and the mean age was 41.5 years with a 95% confidence interval (CI) ranging from 41.2 to 41.8. Most respondents were physicians (n = 3883), nurses (n = 1189), and midwives (n = 286); but also psychologists (n = 50), therapists (n = 44), chaplains (n = 5), and students (n = 10) were included. The DUREL scale was assessed with Cronbach's alpha (α = 0.92) and PCA confirmed its reliability and unidimensionality. The new scales covering the dimensions of "Religiosity of Health Professionals (HPs)" (α = 0.89), "Willingness of Physicians to Interact with Patients Regarding R/S Issues" (α = 0.79), "Religious Objections to Controversial Issues in Medicine" (α = 0.78), and "R/S as a Calling" (α = 0.82), also proved unidimensional in the PCAs. We argue that the proposed scales are relevant and reliable measures of religious dimensions within the data pool. Finally, we outline future studies already planned based on the data pool, and invite interested researchers to join the NERSH collaboration.