The Association of Positive or Negative Religious Coping Methods With Psychological Distress and Quality of Life Among Parents of Infants With Congenital Heart Disease

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether positive and negative religious coping methods were associated with psychological distress and quality of life in parents of infants with congenital heart disease (CHD).Methods: This descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted at a provincial hospital in Fujian, China. Clinical data from 115 parents of infants with CHD were collected. Chinese Sociodemographic Forms, Brief RCOPE, Beck Depression Interview (BDI), and the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) were used in this study.Results: The sex of caregivers in infants with CHD was an independent predictor of BDI scores. The positive religious coping score and the negative religious coping score were both independent predictors of the BDI score (β = −5.365, P = 0.006 and β = 4.812, p = 0.017). The correlation between the quality-of-life scores and positive or negative religious coping scores indicated that positive religious coping scores were significantly positively correlated with Vitality, Social Functioning, and Mental Health scores. There was a significant negative correlation between negative religious coping scores and mental health scores.Conclusions: Positive or negative religious coping methods may be associated with psychological distress and quality of life among parents of infants with CHD. It is suggested that more attention should be devoted to the influence of religious coping methods on parents of infants with CHD, and the use of religious resources should be encouraged.

Religious Coping Methods among Cancer Patients in Three Islamic Countries: A Comparative Perspective

The present article aimed to compare the use of religious coping methods among cancer patients in three Islamic countries from a sociocultural perspective. The article is based on an international study on meaning-making coping in ten countries, among others Malaysia, Iran and Turkey. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted among cancer patients in Malaysia (29), Iran (27) and Turkey (25). The results of the comparison show certain differences in use of religious coping methods between informants in these three countries despite Islam being the dominant religion in all contexts. The findings of this comparative study show the important role culture plays in coping.