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Religious and spiritual interventions in mental health care: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled clinical trials

Open access
Gonçalves, J. P. B., Lucchetti, G., Menezes, P. R., Vallada, H.·2015·Psychological Medicine

Abstract

Background.: Despite the extensive literature assessing associations between religiosity/spirituality and health, few studies have investigated the clinical applicability of this evidence. The purpose of this paper was to assess the impact of religious/spiritual interventions (RSI) through randomized clinical trials (RCTs). Method.: A systematic review was performed in the following databases: PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, PsycINFO, Cochrane Collaboration, Embase and SciELO. Through the use of a Boolean expression, articles were included if they: (i) investigated mental health outcomes; (ii) had a design consistent with RCTs. We excluded protocols involving intercessory prayer or distance healing. The study was conducted in two phases by reading: (1) title and abstracts; (2) full papers and assessing their methodological quality. Then, a meta-analysis was carried out. Results.: Through this method, 4751 papers were obtained, of which 23 remained included. The meta-analysis showed significant effects of RSI on anxiety general symptoms (p< 0.001) and in subgroups: meditation (p< 0.001); psychotherapy (p= 0.02); 1 month of follow-up (p< 0.001); and comparison groups with interventions (p< 0.001). Two significant differences were found in depressive symptoms: between 1 and 6 months and comparison groups with interventions (p= 0.05). In general, studies have shown that RSI decreased stress, alcoholism and depression. Conclusions.: RCTs on RSI showed additional benefits including reduction of clinical symptoms (mainly anxiety). The diversity of protocols and outcomes associated with a lack of standardization of interventions point to the need for further studies evaluating the use of religiosity/spirituality as a complementary treatment in health care.

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Metadata

Authors
Gonçalves, J. P. B., Lucchetti, G., Menezes, P. R., & Vallada, H.
Venue
Psychological Medicine
Published
2015-07-23
Volume
45
Issue
14
Pages
2937-2949
ISSN
  • 0033-2917 (ISSN-L)
  • 1469-8978
OpenAlex
W2162182607
Cited by
394
References
19
FWCI
3.21
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
hybrid

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Religious and spiritual interventions in mental health care: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled clinical trials. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1017/s0033291715001166
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Gonçalves, J. P. B., Lucchetti, G., Menezes, P. R., & Vallada, H. (2015). Religious and spiritual interventions in mental health care: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled clinical trials. Psychological Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0033291715001166

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