- Title
- Spirituality, religion, social support and health among older Australian adults
- Creator
- Moxey, Annette; McEvoy, Mark; Bowe, Steven; Attia, John
- Relation
- Australasian Journal on Ageing Vol. 30, Issue 2, p. 82-88
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-6612.2010.00453.x
- Publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2011
- Description
- Aim: To examine the impact of perceived importance of spirituality or religion (ISR) and religious service attendance (RSA) on health and well-being in older Australians. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 752 community-dwelling men and women aged 55–85 years from the Hunter Region, New South Wales. Results: Overall, 51% of participants felt spirituality or religion was important in their lives and 24% attended religious services at least 2–3 times a month. In univariate regression analyses, ISR and RSA were associated with increased levels of social support (P < 0.001). However, ISR was also associated with more comorbidities (incidence–rate ratio= 1.2, 95% confidence interval 1.08–1.33). There were no statistically significant associations between ISR or RSA and other measures such as mental and physical health. Conclusion: Spirituality and religious involvement have a beneficial impact on older Australians' perceptions of social support, and may enable individuals to better cope with the presence of multiple comorbidities later in life.
- Subject
- mental health; older adult; religion; social support; spirituality
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1066564
- Identifier
- uon:18171
- Identifier
- ISSN:1741-6612
- Language
- eng
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