Religiousness among terminally ill and healthy adults

It was hypothesized that terminally ill adults report greater religiousness than healthy adults, and a positive relationship between religiousness and well-being was found in the healthy group, but not in theterminally ill group.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare terminally ill with healthy adults for differences in religiousness; sense of well-being also was explored. This study was based upon a conceptualization of dying as a developmental phase of life. It was hypothesized that terminally ill adults report greater religiousness than healthy adults. A terminally ill and a healthy group with 57 adults each were matched on four key variables: age, gender, education, and religious affiliation. All 114 participants completed two questionnaires: the Religious Perspective Scale and the Index of Well-Being. A t-test of differences between the group means supported the hypothesis (t (112) = 3.11, p less than .001). There was no difference between the groups on sense of well-being; both indicated moderately high levels of well-being. A positive relationship between religiousness and well-being was found in the healthy group (r = .43, p less than .001), but not in the terminally ill group.