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Infectious Diseases, Religion, and Spirituality

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Why Religion and Spirituality Matter for Public Health

Part of the book series: Religion, Spirituality and Health: A Social Scientific Approach ((RELSPHE,volume 2))

Abstract

This chapter reviews theories and empirical evidence on relations between religion and spirituality (R/S) and infectious diseases, issues especially relevant to the laboratory-based field of concentration of 2%–3% of public health students nationwide. We discuss six lines of R/S-health evidence pertaining to immune competence , immunization , infection risk behavior, rates of infection, adherence to treatments for infections, and programs for prevention or treatment.

More than two dozen studies link R/S measures to indicators of immune competence including CD-4 cell counts, lymphocyte proliferation, cell-mediated immune response, and susceptibility to infection. Some smaller religious groups resist immunization, but a study in a US nationally representative sample found R/S was linked to more frequent vaccination. Most religious rituals pose few risks of infection, and religiously involved adolescents engage in fewer infectious disease risk behaviors. R/S factors have been linked to lower rates of infection in Western samples. In Africa, religious approaches can be more effective than non-religious, biomedical approaches in reducing risks of HIV infection. R/S factors have shown mixed relations with adherence to treatment for infections, with better adherence linked to greater experience of spiritual transformation and lower rates of fatalistic belief that God is in control of one’s health. Programs to prevent or treat infectious diseases are hosted in many R/S organizations, especially congregations .

This chapter is one of thirteen reviews in this volume providing a public health perspective on the empirical evidence relating R/S to physical and mental health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Doug Oman & Lee W. Riley

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Correspondence to Doug Oman .

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  1. University of California, Berkeley, California, USA

    Doug Oman

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Oman, D., Riley, L.W. (2018). Infectious Diseases, Religion, and Spirituality. In: Oman, D. (eds) Why Religion and Spirituality Matter for Public Health. Religion, Spirituality and Health: A Social Scientific Approach, vol 2. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73966-3_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73966-3_8

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