Religious and spiritual beliefs of physicians
Abstract
The aim of this study is to describe religious and spiritual beliefs of physicians and examine their influence on the decision to pursue medicine and daily medical practice. An anonymous survey was e-mailed to physicians at a large, multidisciplinary tertiary referral center with satellite clinics. Data were collected from January 2014 through February 2014. There were 2097 respondents (69.1 % men), and number of practicing years ranged from ≤1 to ≥30. Primary care physicians or medical specialists represented 74.1 %, 23.6 % were in surgical specialties, and 2.3 % were psychiatrists. The majority of physicians believe in God (65.2 %), and 51.2 % reported themselves as religious, 24.8 % spiritual, 12.4 % agnostic, and 11.6 % atheist. This self-designation was largely independent of specialty except for psychiatrists, who were more likely report agnosticism (P = 0.003). In total, 29.0 % reported that religious or spiritual beliefs influenced their decision to become a physician. Frequent prayer was reported by 44.7 % of physicians, but only 20.7 % reported having prayed with patients. Most physicians consider themselves religious or spiritual, but the rates of agnosticism and atheism are higher than the general population. Psychiatrists are the least religious group. Despite the influence of religion on physicians' lives and medical practice, the majority have not incorporated prayer into patient encounters.
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A more secular trait of psychiatrists continues to appear in studies addressing the R/S of health professionals in general.
“This more secular trait of psychiatrists continues to appear in studies addressing the R/S of health professionals in general.20,32”
From How psychiatrists think about religious and spiritual beliefs in clinical practice: findings from a university hospital in São Paulo, Brazil (2019) · cites this paper as [32]
Psychiatry has been described as the least religious among medical specialties.
“Among the medical specialties, psychiatry has been described as the least religious.13,20”
From A preliminary survey on the religious profile of Brazilian psychiatrists and their approach to patients' religiosity in clinical practice (2016) · cites this paper as [20]
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- Authors
- Robinson, K. A., Cheng, M.-R., Hansen, P. D., & Gray, R. J.
- Affiliations
- Mayo Clinic Hospital (US)
- Mayo Clinic (US)
- Corresponding author
- Robinson, Kristin A.
- Venue
- Journal of Religion and Health
- Published
- 2016-04-12
- Volume
- 56
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 205-225
- ISSN
- 0022-4197 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-6571
- OpenAlex
- W2336725148
- Cited by
- 91
- References
- 21
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 47 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 5.28
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Journal of Religion and Health (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
- Social Sciences › Demography › Workplace Spirituality and Leadership
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Religion and Society Interactions
- Keywords
- religious beliefs, spiritual beliefs, physicians, career choice in medicine, prayer, agnosticism, atheism, psychiatrists, medical specialties
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Attitude of Health Personnel, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Physicians, Religion and Medicine, Spirituality, Young Adult
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