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Purpose. Study objectives include: Examine racial differences in levels of medical problems & health service utilization; racial differences in religiosity & use of religious coping styles; & determine effects and race variation of religious coping styles on health service utilization.
Theoretical Framework. Pargament (1997) outlined styles of coping: the deferring style- the responsibility for coping is passively deferred to God while self-directing people rely on themselves in coping rather than on God.
Research Design and Methods. Data are secondary analyses from an Elderly Depression Study. Variables included: Religiosity- Attitude & Organized Behavior; Religious Coping Styles: Deferring & Self-Directing; Medical Problems; & Mental Health Indicators-PRIME-MD; GDS, & GAS. Health Service Utilization: # Physician Visits in last 6 months, & # ER Visits & Inpatient days in last 12 months. Participants (N=328) resided in 18 public high-rises with 40.5% African Americans (n=133) and 59.5% Caucasians (n=195).
Findings. African Americans were more likely to report high blood pressure and arthritis. Scores on all three mental health indicators were slightly higher for Caucasians, but only significantly higher on the PRIME-MD. Caucasians reported a higher number of physician visits, while there were no race differences in the reported number of ER visits and inpatient days. African Americans reported higher levels of perceived religiosity & church attendance. On average, African Americans scored higher on both the deferring and self-directing religious subscales. Caucasians were more likely to be higher on self-directing than deferring. With Physician Visits: For the whole sample and Caucasians, the deferring coping style had a negative effect on physician visits. For Caucasians, the self-directing coping style had a positive effect on physician visits.
Implications: Nurses who deliver health promotion and disease prevention services have the opportunity to be more effective if they recognize differences in religious coping styles. Supported by AHRQ Grant No. 1R24HS11640.
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