IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/socpsy/v67y2021i6p672-679.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Spirituality, religiosity and the mental health consequences of social isolation during Covid-19 pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Giancarlo Lucchetti
  • Leonardo Garcia Góes
  • Stefani Garbulio Amaral
  • Gabriela Terzian Ganadjian
  • Isabelle Andrade
  • Paulo Othávio de Araújo Almeida
  • Victor Mendes do Carmo
  • Maria Elisa Gonzalez Manso

Abstract

Background: Evidence shows that religiosity and spirituality (R/S) are highly used in critical moments of life and that these beliefs are associated with clinical outcomes. However, further studies are needed to assess these beliefs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Aims: To evaluate the use of R/S during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil and to investigate the association between R/S and the mental health consequences of social isolation. Methods: Cross-sectional study conducted in May 2020. Online surveys were carried out assessing sociodemographics, R/S measures, and social isolation characteristics and mental health consequences (hopefulness, fear, worrying and sadness). Adjusted regression models were used. Results: A total of 485 participants were included from all regions of Brazil. There was a high use of religious and spiritual beliefs during the pandemic and this use was associated with better mental health outcomes. Lower levels of worrying were associated with greater private religious activities (OR = 0.466, CI 95%: 0.307–0.706), religious attendance (OR = 0.587, CI 95%: 0.395–0.871), spiritual growth (OR = 0.667, CI 95%: 0.448–0.993) and with an increase in religious activities (OR = 0.660, CI 95%: 0.442–0.986); lower levels of fear were associated with greater private religious activities (OR = 0.632, CI 95%: 0.422–0.949) and spiritual growth (OR = 0.588, CI 95%: 0.392–0.882) and, lower levels of sadness (OR = 0.646, CI 95%: 0.418–0.997) were associated with spiritual growth. Finally, hope was associated with all R/S variables in different degrees (ranging from OR = 1.706 to 3.615). Conclusions: R/S seem to have an important role on the relief of suffering, having an influence on health outcomes and minimizing the consequences of social isolation. These results highlight the importance of public health measures that ensure the continuity of R/S activities during the pandemic and the training of healthcare professionals to address these issues.

Suggested Citation

  • Giancarlo Lucchetti & Leonardo Garcia Góes & Stefani Garbulio Amaral & Gabriela Terzian Ganadjian & Isabelle Andrade & Paulo Othávio de Araújo Almeida & Victor Mendes do Carmo & Maria Elisa Gonzale, 2021. "Spirituality, religiosity and the mental health consequences of social isolation during Covid-19 pandemic," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 67(6), pages 672-679, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:67:y:2021:i:6:p:672-679
    DOI: 10.1177/0020764020970996
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0020764020970996
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0020764020970996?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paul T E Cusack, 2020. "On Pain," Biomedical Journal of Scientific & Technical Research, Biomedical Research Network+, LLC, vol. 31(3), pages 24253-24254, October.
    2. Kim Usher & Navjot Bhullar & Debra Jackson, 2020. "Life in the pandemic: Social isolation and mental health," Journal of Clinical Nursing, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(15-16), pages 2756-2757, August.
    3. Thuné-Boyle, Ingela C. & Stygall, Jan A. & Keshtgar, Mohammed R. & Newman, Stanton P., 2006. "Do religious/spiritual coping strategies affect illness adjustment in patients with cancer? A systematic review of the literature," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 151-164, July.
    4. Acierno, R. & Ruggiero, K.J. & Galea, S. & Resnick, H.S. & Koenen, K. & Roitzsch, J. & de Arellano, M. & Boyle, J. & Kilpatrick, D.G., 2007. "Psychological sequelae resulting from the 2004 Florida hurricanes: implications for postdisaster intervention," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 97(S1), pages 103-108.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Roman Ryszard Szałachowski & Wioletta Tuszyńska-Bogucka, 2023. "“ Faith Is Not Enough? ” Ego-Resiliency and Religiosity as Coping Resources with Pandemic Stress—Mediation Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-19, January.
    2. Regina N. Parnell & Krim K. Lacey & Maxine Wood, 2022. "Coping and Protective Factors of Mental Health: An Examination of African American and US Caribbean Black Women Exposed to IPV from a Nationally Representative Sample," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(22), pages 1-17, November.
    3. Yolanda Mayman & Talitha Crowley & Brian van Wyk, 2024. "Illustrations of Coping and Mental Well-Being of Adolescents Living with HIV in Cape Town, South Africa During COVID: A Photovoice Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(11), pages 1-20, November.
    4. Nazira Calleja & Cecilia Mota, 2022. "Mothers in Lockdown Due to COVID-19 in Mexico: Does Having a Paid Job Make a Difference?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(17), pages 1-12, September.
    5. Elize Jacinto & Maria Clara Figueiredo Dalla Costa Ames & Maurício Custódio Serafim & Marcello Beckert Zappellini, 2023. "Religion-Spirituality Influences in the Governance of Faith-Based Organizations during the Covid Pandemic," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 531-550, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Batsheva Guy & Brittany Arthur, 2020. "Academic motherhood during COVID‐19: Navigating our dual roles as educators and mothers," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(5), pages 887-899, September.
    2. Daniel Niederer & Juliane Mueller, 2020. "Sustainability effects of motor control stabilisation exercises on pain and function in chronic nonspecific low back pain patients: A systematic review with meta-analysis and meta-regression," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(1), pages 1-21, January.
    3. Sana Sadiq & Khadija Anasse & Najib Slimani, 2022. "The impact of mobile phones on high school students: connecting the research dots," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 30(1), pages 252-270, April.
    4. Jitka Vseteckova, 2020. "Psychological Therapy for ICT Literate Older Adults in the Time of COVID-19 - Perceptions on the Acceptability of Online Versus Face to Face Versions of a Mindfulness for Later Life Group," Biomedical Journal of Scientific & Technical Research, Biomedical Research Network+, LLC, vol. 31(1), pages 23912-23916, October.
    5. Khalid Ahmed Al-Ansari & Ahmet Faruk Aysan, 2021. "More than ten years of Blockchain creation: How did we use the technology and which direction is the research heading? [Plus de dix ans de création Blockchain : Comment avons-nous utilisé la techno," Working Papers hal-03343048, HAL.
    6. Ling, Gabriel Hoh Teck & Suhud, Nur Amiera binti Md & Leng, Pau Chung & Yeo, Lee Bak & Cheng, Chin Tiong & Ahmad, Mohd Hamdan Haji & Matusin, AK Mohd Rafiq AK, 2021. "Factors Influencing Asia-Pacific Countries’ Success Level in Curbing COVID-19: A Review Using a Social–Ecological System (SES) Framework," SocArXiv b9f2w, Center for Open Science.
    7. Benedict E. DeDominicis, 2021. "Multinational Enterprises And Economic Nationalism: A Strategic Analysis Of Culture," Global Journal of Business Research, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 15(1), pages 19-66.
    8. Robert J. R. Elliott & Ingmar Schumacher & Cees Withagen, 2020. "Suggestions for a Covid-19 Post-Pandemic Research Agenda in Environmental Economics," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 76(4), pages 1187-1213, August.
    9. Rafał Krupiński, 2020. "Virtual Reality System and Scientific Visualisation for Smart Designing and Evaluating of Lighting," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-17, October.
    10. Ruta Clair & Maya Gordon & Matthew Kroon & Carolyn Reilly, 2021. "The effects of social isolation on well-being and life satisfaction during pandemic," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(1), pages 1-6, December.
    11. Werner Hölzl & Michael Böheim & Klaus Friesenbichler & Agnes Kügler & Thomas Leoni, 2021. "Staatliche Hilfsmaßnahmen für Unternehmen in der COVID-19-Krise. Eine begleitende Analyse operativer Aspekte und Unternehmenseinschätzungen," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 66624, March.
    12. Thorbecke, Willem & Chen, Chen & Salike, Nimesh, 2021. "China’s exports in a protectionist world," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    13. Óscar Chiva-Bartoll & Honorato Morente-Oria & Francisco Tomás González-Fernández & Pedro Jesús Ruiz-Montero, 2020. "Anxiety and Bodily Pain in Older Women Participants in a Physical Education Program. A Multiple Moderated Mediation Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-12, May.
    14. Gigi Foster, 2020. "The behavioural economics of government responses to COVID-19," Journal of Behavioral Economics for Policy, Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics (SABE), vol. 4(S3), pages 11-43, December.
    15. Reza Salajegheh & Edward C Nemergut & Terran M Rice & Roy Joseph & Siny Tsang & Bethany M Sarosiek & C Paige Muthusubramanian & Katelyn M Hipwell & Kate B Horton & Bhiken I Naik, 2020. "Impact of a perioperative oral opioid substitution protocol during the nationwide intravenous opioid shortage: A single center, interrupted time series with segmented regression analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(6), pages 1-13, June.
    16. Jaroslav Flegr & Radim Kuba & Robin Kopecký, 2020. "Rhesus-minus phenotype as a predictor of sexual desire and behavior, wellbeing, mental health, and fecundity," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(7), pages 1-11, July.
    17. Tonata Dengeingei & Laura Uusiku & Olivia N Tuhadeleni & Alice Lifalaza, 2020. "Assessing Knowledge and Practice Regarding the Management of Dysmenorrhea Among Students at University of Namibia Rundu Campus," Global Journal of Health Science, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(9), pages 105-105, August.
    18. Craig C Kage & Mohsen Akbari-Shandiz & Mary H Foltz & Rebekah L Lawrence & Taycia L Brandon & Nathaniel E Helwig & Arin M Ellingson, 2020. "Validation of an automated shape-matching algorithm for biplane radiographic spine osteokinematics and radiostereometric analysis error quantification," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(2), pages 1-15, February.
    19. Piotr Raźniak & György Csomós & Sławomir Dorocki & Anna Winiarczyk-Raźniak, 2021. "Exploring the Shifting Geographical Pattern of the Global Command-and-Control Function of Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-15, November.
    20. Felbermayr, Gabriel & Morgan, T. Clifton & Syropoulos, Constantinos & Yotov, Yoto V., 2021. "Understanding economic sanctions: Interdisciplinary perspectives on theory and evidence," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:67:y:2021:i:6:p:672-679. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.