Elephant in the Room: Why Spirituality and Religion Matter for Public Health

Abstract

This chapter introduces the book Why Religion and Spirituality Matter for Public Health: Evidence, Implications, and Resources. More than 3000 empirical studies 100 systematic reviews have been published on relations of religion and/or spirituality (R/S) with health, but R/S factors remain neglected in public health teaching and research. R.S reflects ultimate concern that taps deep motivations, and R/S typically encourages stewardship of health, so its health-relevance is unsurprising from a behavioral motivation perspective. R/S engagement also commonly fosters social support and access to distinctive methods of coping with stress, elements of a “generic model” of how R/S influences health. Predominantly favorable relations suggest that R/S might be a fundamental cause of health, but R/S factors also sometimes correlate unfavorably with risk factors or poorer health. Part I of this volume contains 14 chapters that review evidence on R/S-health relations from the perspectives of major subfields of public health that include social factors, nutrition, infectious diseases, environmental health, maternal/child health, health policy and management, public health education and promotion, mental health, and clinical practice. Part II contains two chapters that address implications for public health practice, emphasizing community-based health promotion, health policy advocacy, and healthcare systems and management. The eight chapters in Part III offer resources for public health educators, including narratives of how R/S-health relations have been taught in schools of public health at universities that include Emory, Harvard, University of California at Berkeley, Boston University, University of Michigan, Drexel University, and University of Illinois at Chicago. A concluding chapter offers international perspectives.