Religiousness and Health

Data

Official data in SubjectManager for the following academic year: 2023-2024

Topic

The impact of religiousness on health is scarcely debatable. On the other hand, impaired health status or struggle with diseases can influence our spirituality and even our religiousness. The aim of this course is to demonstrate the multifaceted and diverse relationship between religiousness and health. After defining religiousness and health possibilities of measurement will be discussed. Finally, connections between different dimensions of religiousness and health as well as potential mechanisms will be presented.

Lectures

Practices

Seminars

• 1. Faith, religion, religious affiliation, and health. Introduction and research history
• 2. Concepts of disease and health. Health determinants. Social determinants of health
• 3. Measurement of health status (morbidity, mortality, life expectancies, subjective health)
• 4. Multidimensional approaches to religiousness
• 5. How to measure religiousness?
• 6. Religious affiliation as a potential social determinant of health
• 7. The role of religious community in health status
• 8. Health behaviour and health culture in different religions
• 9. Connection between spirituality, private religiousness, and health
• 10. Religiousness and mental health. The role of religion in mental disorders
• 11. Religiousness and physical health: the role of religiousness in the development of non-infectious diseases; the role of chronic non-infectious diseases in religiousness
• 12. Religion and use of health services

Reading material

Obligatory literature

Literature developed by the Department

Notes

Recommended literature

Koenig HG. Religion, spirituality, and health: the research and clinical implications. ISRN Psychiatry. 2012 Dec 16;2012:278730. doi: 10.5402/2012/278730.
Hall DE, Meador KG, Koenig HG. Measuring religiousness in health research: review and critique. J Relig Health. 2008 Jun;47(2):134-63. doi: 10.1007/s10943-008-9165-2.
Zachary Zimmer, Florencia Rojo, Mary Beth Ofstedal, Chi-Tsun Chiu, Yasuhiko Saito, Carol Jagger, Religiosity and health: A global comparative study. SSM - Population Health. Volume 7, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2018.11.006.

Conditions for acceptance of the semester

Maximum of 25 % absence allowed

Mid-term exams

Students report on their knowledge on the ending seminar. The exam - depending on the number of students - is a multiple choice test or an oral presentation about a topic.

Making up for missed classes

There are no make-upe classes.

Exam topics/questions

Students report on their knowledge on the ending seminar. The exam - depending on the number of students - is a multiple choice test or an oral presentation about a topic.
List of topics:
1. Concepts of disease and health. Health determinants
2. Social determinants of health
3. Measurement of health status (morbidity, mortality, life expectancies, subjective health)
4. Multidimensional approaches to religiousness. Measurement of religiousness
5. Religious affiliation as a potential social determinant of health
6. The role of religious community in health status
7. Health behaviour and health culture in different religions
8. Connection between spirituality, private religiousness, and health
9. Religiousness and mental health
10. Religiousness and physical health

Examiners

Instructor / tutor of practices and seminars

• Bőszné Dr. Murányi Edit