How Do “Religion” and “Spirituality” Differ? Lay Definitions Among Older Adults

Schlehofer, Michèle M.; Omoto, Allen M.; Adelman, Janice R.

doi:10.1111/j.1468-5906.2008.00418.x

Cited by 90 publications

(84 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…The last factor suggests an overlap with religion; however, the design of the study did not allow the exploration of this question. Schlehofer, Omoto & Adelman (2008) studied 64 older adults (mean age = 78.7 y) in three retirement communities in Los Angeles County using open-ended questions to elicit responses about the meaning, biographical past and present significance of 'spirituality' and 'religion'. Participants in this study were more likely to associate religion than spirituality with personal beliefs, community affiliation, and organized practices.…”

Section: Semantics Of Spiritualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Semantics of ‘Spirituality’ and Related Self-Identifications: A Comparative Study in Germany and the USA

Keller

Klein

Swhajor-Biesemann

et al. 2013

Archive for the Psychology of Religion

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SummaryCulturally different connotations of basic concepts challenge the comparative study of religion. Do persons in Germany or in the United States refer to the same concepts when talking about 'spirituality' and 'religion'? Does it make a difference how they identify themselves? The Bielefeld-Chattanooga Cross-Cultural Study on 'Spirituality' includes a semantic differential approach for the comparison of self-identified "neither religious nor spiritual", "religious", and "spiritual" persons regarding semantic attributes attached to the concepts 'religion' and 'spirituality' in each research context. Results show that 'spirituality' is used as a broader concept than 'religion'. Regarding religion, semantics attributed by self-identified religious persons differ significantly from those of the spiritual persons. The 'spiritual' and the 'religious' groups agree on semantics attributed to spirituality but differ from the 'neither spiritual nor religious' group. Qualifications of differences and agreements become visible from the comparison between the United States and Germany. It is argued for the semantically sensitive study of culturally situated 'spiritualities'.

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Section: Semantics Of Spiritualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Semantics of ‘Spirituality’ and Related Self-Identifications: A Comparative Study in Germany and the USA

Keller

Klein

Swhajor-Biesemann

et al. 2013

Archive for the Psychology of Religion

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“…Some researchers distinguish between ''intrinsic'' religiosity, or religion as a goal in itself, and ''extrinsic'' religiosity, or religious participation motivated by non-religious goals (Hoge 1972). Some distinguish between ''religiosity,'' or involvement with organized religion, and ''spirituality,'' or an individual's personal relationship with God, a higher power, or some other sense of the transcendent (Neff 2006;Schlehofer et al 2008). Some distinguish between religiosity that is internal, or within the minds of individuals, and religiosity that is external, or expressed through action (Idler et al 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Daily Spiritual Experiences and Prosocial Behavior

Einolf

2011

Soc Indic Res

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This paper examines how the Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale (DSES) relates to range of prosocial behaviors, using a large, nationally representative U.S. data set. It finds that daily spiritual experiences are a statistically and substantively significant predictor of volunteering, charitable giving, and helping individuals one knows personally. Daily spiritual experiences better predict helping to distant others than to friends and family, indicating that they may motivate helping by fostering an extensive definition of one's moral community. The relationship between the DSES and helping is not moderated by sympathy and is robust to the inclusion of most religiosity measures. However, the relationship becomes non-significant for most helping behaviors when measures of meditation, prayer, and mindfulness are included in a regression equation. The DSES is particularly effective in predicting helping behaviors among people who do not belong to a religious congregation, indicating that it may measure spiritual motivations for helping among people who are not conventionally religious.

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“…On one hand, the religious dimension tends to relate to beliefs and practices that are communally and organizationally based, tradition and creed-oriented, and associated with institutional and social pressures (Pepper, Jackson, and Uzzell 2010;Piedmont 1999;Saucier and Skrzypinska 2006;Schlehofer, Omoto, and Adelman 2008;Wink et al 2007;Wink and Dillon 2003;Zinnbauer et al 1997;Zwissler 2007). The spiritual dimension, on the other hand, generally relates to an individual's subjective beliefs and pursuits, is often characterized by a propensity for "spiritual seeking" and personal experiences, includes nontheistic ideas of a higher power and an interest in unorthodox beliefs and practices, and may cooccur with negative feelings towards organized forms of religion (Fuller 2001; Jang and Franzen 2013;Piedmont 1999;Roof 1993;Saucier and Skrzypinska 2006;Schlehofer, Omoto, and Adelman 2008;Wink and Dillon 2003;Wuthnow 1998;Zinnbauer et al 1997). …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Is this Relevant?: Physician Perceptions, Clinical Relevance, and Religious Content in Clinical Interactions

Franzen¹

2016

Preprint

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Despite wide support among physicians for practicing patient-centered care, clinical interactions are primarily driven by physicians' perception of relevance. These perceptions of relevance depend on the physician's own biographical background. While some physicians will perceive a connection between religion and patient health, this relevance will be less apparent for others. I argue here that physician responses when religious/spiritual topics come up during clinical interactions will depend on their own religious/spiritual background. The more central religion is for the physician, as reflected by their religious/spiritual orientation, intrinsic religiosity, and religious coping, the greater their perception of religion's impact on health outcomes and their inclusion of religion/spirituality within clinical interactions. Using a nationally representative sample of physicians in the U.S. and mediated path models, I estimate models for five different physician actions to evaluate these relationships. I find that a physician's religious background is strongly associated with whether or not they think religion impacts health outcomes, which is strongly predictive of inclusion. I also find that not all of the association between inclusion and physicians' religious background is mediated by thinking religion impacts health outcomes. Issues of religion's relevance for medicine are important to the degree that religious beliefs are an important dimension of patients' lives. and Religious Content in Clinical InteractionsWho decides what is relevant in a conversation between a physician and patient? Is anything the patient wants to talk about or share with the physician fair game? Or is it the physician's role to direct the conversation toward what he or she sees as medically relevant?Most often it is the latter, and in the process, the physician's decision may actually bypass patient-centered care.Problems arise when patients want something different from the interaction with their physician. Toombs (1987) argues that patients almost universally understand their illnesses in terms of their everyday life while physicians tend to think of illnesses in terms of physical indicators with a named diagnosis and specific treatment. When patients and physicians talk about illness, they tend to be referencing different realities. If the gap between these realities is large enough, a failure in health care can occur (Toombs 1987).While both parties have a role to play during clinical conversations, both the physician's and patient's identity are biographically constrained, which means that out of each identity flows perhaps differing perceptions of conversational relevance. While ill patients understand their illness in terms of their everyday lives, they also have some idea of what information their physician expects them to share. What patients think they should share and what the physician wants them to share, however, is not always the same. Dubbin, Chang, and Shim (2013) find that even when physicians seek to pra...

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How Do “Religion” and “Spirituality” Differ? Lay Definitions Among Older Adults

Cited by 90 publications

References 20 publications

The Semantics of ‘Spirituality’ and Related Self-Identifications: A Comparative Study in Germany and the USA

The Semantics of ‘Spirituality’ and Related Self-Identifications: A Comparative Study in Germany and the USA

Daily Spiritual Experiences and Prosocial Behavior

Is this Relevant?: Physician Perceptions, Clinical Relevance, and Religious Content in Clinical Interactions

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