Religion and the Terminally Ill

Empirical studies have shown that patients want to discuss religious beliefs with their physicians and health care professionals. In a study of 203 adults, 37 percent stated they wanted their physician to discuss their beliefs, 48 percent wanted to pray with their physician, and 77 percent wanted their physician to consider their spiritual needs. Of this group, 68 percent also reported that their physician never discussed religion or spirituality. Thus the problem is, that although the terminally ill patient needs to include a spiritual component in treatment, health care professionals such as physicians and psychologists tend to avoid discussion of religious beliefs or spirituality with patients. Further, the full extent of effects of religion on reactions to terminal illness remains unknown and therefore need to be empirically studied (Mattews, Conti, & Christ, 2000).

Since it has been determined that patients require a religious component when facing terminal illness and studies have determined that high levels of religiosity improve the quality of life for these individuals, and yet this factor remains limited or nonexistent in treatment, it is important to study this problem. The scope of this problem includes almost everyone at one time or another, either as the patient or the family of the patient. Social workers need to understand the role of religi

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e discussed to include patient sample and setting (Steinhauser, Christakis, Clipp, & McNeilly). Circirelli (1997) used a quasi-experimental survey design and studied variables present in elderly end-of-life decisions for 388 Black and White adults, ages 60 to 100 years. The study objectives were to determine acceptability of end-of-life decision options and variables. The hypotheses suggested that low quality of life and high levels of religiosity and other characteristics would lead to decisions to continue living. The sample was from Indiana cities, found through seniors' organizations; participants were matched for demographic characteristics. Variables were not operationally defined, however, measurement instruments were described along with reliability and validity information. Descriptive statistics, factor analysis, correlations, and regression analysis were used to analyze data and present findings. Among the factors studied, religiosity was found to be significantly involved in decisions. People reported needing to be able to exert control over how their lives should end. For this study, higher levels of religiosity was correlated with lower numbers of decisions to end life and higher numbers of decisions to main
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 3382
Approximate Pages = 14 (250 words per page)

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