Past Research
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Oats, WN (1986). Four viewpoints: The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Australian Family Physician, 15, 1025.
O'Brien, M.E. (1982). Religious faith and adjustment to long-term hemodialysis. Journal of Religion and Health, 21, 68-80. (3-year prospective cohort study of a convenience sample of 126 chronic hemodialysis patients (75% Black; 69% Protestant, 20% Catholic, 6% Jewish) in Washington, DC; religious affiliation, religious attendance, perceptions of usefulness of religion for coping with end-stage renal disease and dialysis; social functioning measued by scales of interactional beahvior, quality of interaction, alienation, and sick role behavior; interviewed at Time 1, when church attendance significantly related to interactional behavior (F=15.3, p<.01), quality of interaction (F=8.2, p<.01), lower alienation (F=7.1, p<.01), less powerlessness (F=4.0, p<.01), less normlessness (F=5.4, p<.01), and less social isolation (F=8.8, p<.01); persons with no religious affiliation showed the worst compliance with hemodialysis treatment regimen, and Catholics and frequent church attenders showed the highest compliance (statistics not given); with regard to importance of religion in adjustment to dialysis, over 50% (52.4%) indicated that religion was usually or always an important element associatd with adjustment to their illness; Jewish were more likely to indicate that religion was never related to adjustment (63% or 5/8) compared to Catholics (12% or Protestants (23%); overall, patients indicating that religion had no relationship to their adjustment process to illness were the least compliant with their treatment regimen); Time 2, 3 years after the baseline interview, 63 subjects were re-interviewed; 27% indicated that the importance of religious faith in adjusting to their illness condition had either increased from a negative to a positive or had notably increased during the previous 3 years; only 1 of 63 subjects experienced a change from positive to negative perception of religion's importance; quantitatively, 40% (25/63) became more positive on their response to the perceived importance of religious faith in adjusting to illness, 44% stayed the same, and 16% showed a decrease; 33% indicated a greater frequency of church attendance than at Time 1, 38% the same frequency, and 29% a lower frequency (over half of whom indicated that the decrease was because they had been prevented from going to church due to physical limitations); in the Time 2 report, would have been interesting to know the baseline religiousness of the 50% of subjects who were not re-interviewed) (no control variables) (compliance with treatment)
O'Connor, B.P., & Vallerand, R.J. (1989). Religious motivation in the elderly: a French-Canadian replication and an extension. The Journal of Social Psychology, 130, 53-59. (examines the relationship between religious motivation and personal adjustment among the elderly; C/S survey of a convenience sample of 176 elderly French-Canadians (Quebec) drawn from nursing homes in greater Montreal area (146 women, 30 men, mean age 82); four types of religious motivation (IR, self-determined ER, non-self-determined ER, and amotivational) assessed, based on Valerand & O'Connor's Religious Motivation subscale (French); personal adjustment assessed by Rosenberg's SE scale, 3 items from Beck Depression Inventory, and Diener's Satisfaction with Life Scale (all French translations); IR was inversely related to depression (-.34, p<.001), positively related to life satisfaction (.25, p<.001), self-esteem (.30, p<.001), and meaning in life (.31, p<.001), all uncontrolled)
Oetting, E.R., & Beauvais, F. (1987). Peer cluster theory, socialization characteristics, and adolescent drug use: A path analysis. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 34, 205-213. (presents theory that socialization variables such as religious identification influence drug use only indirectly through their effect on peer clusters (small cohesive groupings of adolescents); C/S survey of a convenience sample of 415 11th and 12th graders from a midsize western community; 17-item Peer Drug Associations scale (number of friends using drugs, etc.); Family Sanctions Scale (teachings against drug use); Family Strength Scale (whether family cares); religious identification (how religious youth is and how much he/she participates in religious activities); uses path analysis to show that religious identification positively related to family strength and to school adjustment, both of which are inversely related to peer drug associations, which positively correlates with drug use)
Ogata, A., Miyakawa, T. (1998). Religious experiences in epileptics patients with a focus on ictus-related episodes. Psychiatry & Clinical Neurosciences, 52, 321-325.
Ogata, M., Ikeda, M., & Kuratsune, M. (1984). Mortality among Japanese Zen priests. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 38, 161-166. (retrospective cohort study of 1396 deaths among 4352 Japanese male Zen priests between 1955 and 1978; SMR computed for major causes of death, compared with general Japanese male population; death determined by obtaining copies of death certificates; SMR's for all caues of death was 0.82, p<.001, and SMR's for cerebrovascular diseases, pneumonia/bronchitis, peptic ulcer, liver cirrhosis, cancer of respiratory oragnas, and CA of lung were all significantly lower than 1.00; priests smoke less, eat less meat and fish, and live in less polluted areas, although drinking habits are similar to Japanese men)
Okun, M.A. (1993). Predictors of volunteer status in a retirement community. International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 36, 57-74. (C/S survey of a stratified random sample of approximately 400 persons (51% response) aged 47-93 in Sun City, AZ; actual volunteers (58%), latent volunteers, conditional volunteers, and definite nonvolunteers living in a retirement community are compared; church attendance measured, as well as intrinsic religiosity which was assessed by a single item "My religious beliefs are what really lie behind my whole approach to life" (with which only 13% disagreed or strongly disagreed) and informal religious activity assessed by a two-item measure which asked about reading religious books/materials and watching or listening to religious programs on TV/radio; discriminant function analysis used to distinguish actual volunteers vrom actual nonvolunteers; the most powerful predictor of actual volunteer status was church attendance (when other variables were controlled); it was a stronger predictor than activity limitations due to health scores and memberships in clubs and organizations, as well as four other predictors; three discriminant functional analyses were used to discriminate the four categories of volunteers described above; latent volunteers engage more in informal religious behavior, but attend church less frequently; conditional volunteers engage infrequently in informal religious behaviors and is unrelated to church attendance; concluded dthat high information religious behavior may predispose individual to respond affirmatively, without caveats, to requests to provide assistance to others) (replicates results of Hertzog and Morgan 1992); religious factors are most important predictors of actual and latent volunteers) (good study)
Oldnall, A. (1996). A critical analysis of nursing: Meeting the spiritual needs of patients. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 23, 138-144. (review) (paper explores some of the difficulties in defining spirituality and examines extent towhich nursing theories incorporate the concpet of spirituality; discusses potential for meetin gthe spiritual needs of patients in the British National Health Service)
Oleckno, W.A., & Blacconiere, M.J. (1991). Relationship of religiosity to wellness and other health-related behaviors and outcomes. Psychological Reports, 68, 819-826. (C/S survy of 1077 college students at Northern Illinois University (59% women, 87% white, 55% Catholic) (sampling method not given); six dimensions of wellness examined (Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile) (self-actualization, health responsibility, exercise, nutrition, interpersonal support, and stress management); questionnaire included smoking, drinking, drug use, seat-belt use, illnesses, and injuries; two-item religiosity index: "How often do you attend religious services?" and "How religious are you?" with results dichotomized; smoking and drinking was significantly lower among the high religious group (F=12.7, p<.001 and F=6.4, p=.01); seat-belt use was significantly greater among those with high religiosity (F=12.3, p<.001); illness was significantly lower among those with high religiosity (F=6.4, p=.01); drug use was lower among those with high religiosity (F=13.6, p<.001); greater wellness was found among those with high religiosity (F=23.6, p<.001) and its subscales (self-actualization, F=22.1, p<.001; health responsibility, F=6.5, p=.01; exercise, F=7.1, p=.008; nutrition, F=12.7, p<.001; interpersonal support, F=10.8, p=.001; and stress management, F=5.2, p=.02) (only sex was controlled in analyses)
Olive, K.E. (1995). Physician religious beliefs and the physician-patient relationship: A study of devout physicians. Southern Medical Journal, 88, 1249-1255. (C/S survey of 40 physicians identified by their peers as devout ("having religious or spiritual beliefs that were an important part of their lives") completed the survey; 32% reorted having shared their beliefs with patients; praying aloud with patients occurred with only 13% of patients, although 67% reported having done it on at least one occassion; 53% of the time, the physician initiated the prayer; religious affiliation (Protestant) was the strongest predictor of whether or not physicians shared their beliefs with patients)
O'Laoire, S. (1997). An experimental study of the effects of distant, intercessory prayer on self-esteem, anxiety, and depression. Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, 3(6), 38-53. (O'Laoire randomly assigned 90 adults (referred to as "agents") to pray for the needs of another 406 people (referred to as "subjects"). Agents were assigned to one of two conditions: (a) a directed prayer group or (b) a nondirected prayer group. Subjects were randomly assigned to either (a) being prayed for with directed prayer; (b) being prayed for with nondirected prayer; or (c) a no-prayer control group. Agents prayed for their subjects for 15 minutes daily for 12 weeks. Each subject was prayed for by three agents. Prior to beginning of the prayer tasks, the participants in the study (including the agents) completed measures of depression, anxiety, and self-esteem. The scores on the well-being variables improved both for agents and subjects of prayer over the course of the 12-week period. This finding is not terribly surprising, as many pre-post studies find scores to decrease on measures of dysfunction with no intervention at all. What was surprising, though, was the comparison of agents and subjects on the well-being variables. At the conclusion of the study, it appeared that the agents of prayer actually had improvements in well-being that were superior to the subjects of the prayer.)
Olson, L.M., Reis, J., Murphy, L., & Gehm, J.H. (1988). The religious community as a partner in health care. Journal of Community Health, 13, 249-257. (in-depth C/S structured interviews with 176 inner-city churches (clergy) (mostly Black Baptist churches, south-side of Chicago) regarding existing community problems, currently offered church-based social and health programs, and interest in church-sponsored new child and maternal health programs; neary all churches indicated (92.6%) they would be willing to advertise the availability of health and social services, 87.5% would work with local schools, and 80% willing to develop a program to support counsel teen parents, 73% provide day care program for teen parents, and 49% to lobby for increased funding for preventive services for women and children; lack of vounteers, funds, and time to manage programs were major barriers)
Oman, D., and Reed, D. (1998). Religion and mortality among the community-dwelling elderly. American Journal of Public Health, 88, 1469-1475. A 5-year prospective cohort study of 1931 older residents (age 55 or older) of Marin County, California, examining rates of mortality. During the five-year follow-up, there were 454 deaths. Religious attendance was dichotomized into "attenders" (weekly or occasional attenders) and non-attenders (never attend). Attenders experienced an relative hazard (RH) of dying of 0.64 (95% confidence intervals .52-.78). In other words, persons who attended religious services were 36% less likely to die during the follow-up. When covariates were controlled the RH was 0.76 (95% CI .62-.94) (p=.01); covariates included age, sex, marital status, number of chronic diseases, lower body disability, balance problems, exercise, smoking status, alcohol use, weight, two measures of social functioning and social support, and depression. In other words, after controlling for all of the above factors, persons who attended religious services were still 24% less likely to die during the five-year follow-up. At the beginning of the study, persons who attended religious services weekly or more often were more likely to be married (men in particular), less likely to have balance difficulties (men in particular), less likely to smoke (both men and women), more likely to be over-weight, more likely to do volunteer work (both men and women), less likely to be socially reclusive (both men and women), and less likely to be depressed (men in particular); religious attendance tended to more protective for those with high social support)
Oman, D., Thoresen, C., & McMahon, K. (1999). Volunteerism and mortality among the community-dwelling elderly. Journal of Health Psychology, in press. Prospective cohort study involving 1973 residents age 55 or over living in Marin County, California. Subjects were followed from 1990-91 through November 1995 (range of follow-up was 3.2 to 5.6 years). Of the sample, 31% (n=630) of respondents volunteered -- about half of whom volunteered for more than one organization. High volunteers (two or more organizations) had a 63% lower mortality than nonvolunteers (RH 0.37, 95% CI 0.24-0.58). After controlling for demographics (age, gender), physical functioning (number of chronic conditions, physical mobility, exercise, days not out of house per week, self rated general health), health habits (smoking), social support (marital status, religious attendance), and psychological status (depression by CES-D), this effect was reduced to 44% (RH 0.56, 95% CI 0.35-0.89). After adjustment for covariates, any level of volunteering reduced mortality by 60% among weekly attenders at religious services (RH 0.40, 95% CI 0.21-0.74); the same was true for participating in other religious group activities, and to a lesser degree for those who've felt "socially connected" (RH= 0.69, 95% CI 0.50-0.96), but not with level of general social activity (for which the effect was actually in reverse!). The latter (religious attendance and other religious group activity) were both significant interaction in the model (p=.01). There was no interaction, however, with level of social activities (attending a concert, sporting event or play, movie, museum or art gallery, dance, cards or bingo, meeting of club or organizations, auction or yard sale, other). Thus, the positive effects of volunteerism on mortality appear to be unique for religious group activities.
O'Neill, D., and Kenny, E.K. (1998). Spirituality and Chronic Illness. Image: Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 30(3):275-281. Review of the importance of spirituality in nursing practice. Argues that spirituality is and ought to be thought of and measured as a separate dimension from religiousness; that, especially in relation to AIDS caregiving, specific practices of active listening, spiritual self-awareness, working with clergy, and assessment of spiritual needs of patients has and should continue to grow. Emphasizes therapeutic/psychologically supportive role nurses can take regarding spiritual issues.
Orbach, H.L. (1961). Aging and religion. Geriatrics, 530-540. (C/S survey of a probability sample of 6,911 adults aged 21 or over in Detroit metropolitan area (pooled data from Univeristy of Michigan's Detroit Area study 1952-1957); religiosity measured by church attendance (1-5); after age 40, weekly attendance remained over 45% until age 80-84, when dropped to 43% (amazing high frequency); argues that there is little evidence to suggest increasing religiousness with age, and that drop of attendance in the old old is due to advancing age and health problems)
O'Reilly, C.T. (1957). Religious practice and personal adjustment of older people. Sociology and Social Research, 41, 119-121. (C/S survey of random sample of 6.5% of 4,511 older adults in a working-class Chicago community; for this analysis, 108 men and 102 women in the sample who were Catholic and physically capable of attending church were studied; religious variables were attendance of Mass on Sundays (> once/wk=high, < once/wk=low) and receiving of Holy Communion (daily to monthly=high, < monthly=low); divided into "more active"=high-high, "medium active"=high-low or low-high, and "less active"=low-low; examined whether aged affected religious practice; subjects ages 65-75 were compared with subjects over 75; results indicated that 45.5% of under 75 group were "more active vs. 67.4% of those over age 75 (increased religious practice with age); loneliness was unrelated to religious activity (48% active vs 55% inactive, p=ns); happiness was related to religious activity, in that over one-half of the "very happy" were "more active" religiously, whereas 34% were in the "medium" and only 11% in the "less active" group (p=not given); church members demonstrated a wide range of religious activity, suggesting that simple affiliation was a poor measure of religiousness)
Ornish, D., Brown, S.E., Scherwitz, L.W., Billings, J.H., Armstrong, W.T., Ports, T.A., McLanahan, S.M., Kirkeeide, R.L., Brand, R.J. & Gould, K.L. (1990). Can lifestyle changes reverse coronary heart disease? The Lifestyle Heart Trial. Lancet, 336 (8708), 129-133. (prospective, randomised, controlled trial to determine if comprehensive lifestyel changes affect coronary atherosclerosis after 1 year; compared 28 patients in experimental group (low-fat vegetarian diet, stopping smoking, stress management training moderate exercise) to 20 usual-care group; this multi-factor interventions for post-heart-attack patients which include a spiritual component was associated with reduced risk of repeat myocardial infarction; this study showed that lifestyle changes can bring about regression of even severe coronary atherosclerosis after only 1 year without drug therapy; quantitative coronary angiography assessed 195 coronary artery lesions; average percentage diameter stenosis regressed from 40.0% to 37.8% in experimental group, compared to progressing from 42.7% to 46.1% in control group; when lesions greater than 50% stenosis were analyzed, average percentage diameter stensosis regressed from 61.1% to 55.8% in experimental group vs. progression from 61.7% to 64.4% in control group; 82% of experimental group patients had a change towards regression; stress-management technique included stretching exercises, breathing techniques, meditation, progressive relaxation, and imagery)
Orr, R.D., & Isaac, G. (1992). Religious variables are infrequently reported in clinical research. Family Medicine, 24, 602-606. (R) (perform a systematic review of 7 major primary care medical journals (Annals, Archives, JAGS, JAMA, JFP, NEJM, Pediatrics) in 1989; 1,066 articles including research data; of this only 12 articles (1.1%) included religious variables; 8/12 assessed only denomination and 4 assessed religious commitment); less than one-half of one percent included even one question on religious commitment)
Orr, RD, Genesen, LB (1997). Requests for "inappropriate" treatment based on religious beliefs. Journal of Medical Ethics, 23 (3), 142-147.
Orr, RD, Genesen, LB (1998). Medicine, ethics and religion: rational or irrational? Journal of Medical Ethics, 24, 385-387.
Ortega, S.T., Crutchfield, R.D., & Rushing, W.A. (1983). Race differences in elderly personal well-being. Research on Aging, 5, 101-118. (C/S survey of a random sample of 4,522 persons in a moderately urban, rural, and isolated rural communities in northern Alabama, with oversampling of physically disabled, elderly, women, and Blacks; single items measured happiness (1-3), general life satisfaction (1-3), and relative life satisfaction (1-10); religious measures were frequency of attendance (monthly basis) and frequency of contact with church-related friends in nonchurch settings; controls were education, income, age, marital status, health status, and place of residence; found that informal interpersonal contact was the strongest predictor of life satisfaction, and that contact with friends mediated the relationship only where friendships have the church as their locus; the greater life satisfaction of Black elderly is due largely to greater contact with church-related friends; church-related friends was more strongly related to life satisfaction than was race itself) (results from regression analyses)
Ortega ST, Whitt HP, William JA. (1988). Religious homogamy and marital happiness. Journal of Family Issues 9:224-239.
Osler, W. (1910). The faith that heals. The British Medical Journal, 1470-1472. (Q) "Nothing in life is more wonderful than faith -- the one great moving force which we can neither weigh in the balance nor teset in the crucible." (p 1470) "The Christian Church began with a mission to the whole man -- body as well as soul -- and the apostolic ministry of health has never been wholly abandoned. Through the Middle Ages the priests had care of the sick; many of the most distinguished physicians were in holy orders, and even after the Reformation in this country much of the ordinary medical practice was in the hands of the clergy." (p 1471) "Not a psychologist but an ordinary clinical physician concerned in making strong the weak in mind and body, the whole subject is of intense interest to me. I feel that our attitude as a profession should not be hostile, and we must scan gently our brother man and sister woman who may be carried away in the winds of new doctrine. A group of active, earnest, capable young men are at work on the problem, which is of their generation and for them to solve. The angel of Bethesda is at the pool -- it behoves us to jump in!" (p 1472)
Ostheimer, J. (1981). The polls: changing attitudes toward euthanasia, revisited. Social Biology, 28(Spring/Summer), 145-148.
Ostir, G. V., Markides, K. S., Black, S. A., Goodwin, J. S. (2000). Emotional well-being predicts subsequent functional independence and survival. Journal of the American Geriatric Society, in press (2-year prospective cohort study of 2,282 Mexican Americans aged 65-99 with no functional limitations at baseline; subjects with high positive affect were half as likely (O.R. 0.48,95% CI 0.29-0.93) to become ADL disabled, two-thirds as likely to have a slow walking speed (O.R. 0.64,95% CI 0.51-0.79), and half as likely to have died during the two-year follow-up compared to those with lower positive affect scores (O.R. 0.53,95% CI 0.30-0.93).
Oxman, T.E., Freeman, D.H., & Manheimer, E.D. (1995). Lack of social participation or religious strength and comfort as risk factors for death after cardiac surgery in the elderly. Psychosomatic Medicine, 57, 5-15. (prospective cohort study of 232 age 55 or over from the practices of four staff cardiothoracic surgeons at Dartmouth Medical Center who were to undergo elective cardiac surgery for CABG, AVR, or both; eligible patients were all 319 subjects were scheduled for elective surgery between 11/89 and 12/92; the final sample of 232 subjects represented 90% of the eligible patients for whom surgery was not canceled or rejected and was not so urgent that it could not be carried out on an elective basis; subjects were assessed one and six months after surgery; religious variables included affiliation, religious attendance, strength and comfort from religion, number of people known in congregation, and self-rated religiousness; logistic regression determined five major predictors of mortality during the six months after surgery: previous cardiac surgery, severity of impairment in basic ADLs, age over 70 at time of surgey, participation in groups, and strength or comfort from religion; after adjusting for other variables (including social factors), lack of strength or comfort from religion predicted 3 times greater mortality (OR 3.25, 95% CI 1.09-9.72); among the 72 who had both high group participation and high religious strength and comfort, only 2.5% died, compared with over 21% of the 49 subjects with no group participation or strength and comfort from religion)
Oyama, O., & Koenig, H.G. (1998). Religious beliefs and practices in family medicine. Archives of Family Medicine, 7, 431-435. (C/S survey of a convenience sample of 380 family medicine outpatients of all ages and 31 family medicine physicians surveyed concerning their beliefs and practices, and interest in including religion as part of the clinical encounter; compared with physicians, patients were significantly more likely to pray once a day (61% vs 29%), more likely to hold intrinsic religious attitudes, and more likely to be affiliated with a religious tradition; almost one-half of patients were interested in knowing the religious beliefs of their doctors (43%), and 73% felt that patients should share their religious beliefs with their doctors; finally, 67% of patients felt that they would like their physician to pray with them. The more religious patients were, the more likely they were to know about the relgiious beliefs of their physicians and share their own religious beliefs with them)
