Skip to main content
Journal cover image

Religiosity, spirituality, and end-of-life planning: a single-site survey of medical inpatients.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Karches, KE; Chung, GS; Arora, V; Meltzer, DO; Curlin, FA
Published in: J Pain Symptom Manage
December 2012

CONTEXT: Prior studies suggest that terminally ill patients who use religious coping are less likely to have advance directives and more likely to opt for heroic end-of-life measures. Yet, no study to date has examined whether end-of-life practices are associated with measures of religiosity and spirituality. OBJECTIVES: To assess the relationship between general measures of patient religiosity and spirituality and patients' preferences for care at the end of life. METHODS: We examined data from the University of Chicago Hospitalist Study, which gathers sociodemographic and clinical information from all consenting general internal medicine patients at the University of Chicago Medical Center. Primary outcomes were whether the patient had an advance directive, a do-not-resuscitate (DNR) order, a durable power of attorney for health care, and an informally designated decision maker. Primary predictors were religious attendance, intrinsic religiosity, and self-rated spirituality. RESULTS: The sample population (n=8308) was predominantly African American (73%) and female (60%). In this population, 1.5% had advance directives and 10.4% had DNR orders. Half (51%) of the patients had specified a decision maker. White patients were more likely than African American patients to have an advance directive (odds ratio [OR] 2.1; 95% CI 1.1-4.0) and a DNR order (OR 1.7; 95% CI 1.0-2.9). Patients reporting high intrinsic religiosity were more likely to have specified a decision maker than those reporting low intrinsic religiosity (OR 1.3; 95% CI 1.1-1.6). The same was true for those with high compared with low spirituality (OR 1.3; 95% CI 1.1-1.5). Religious characteristics were not significantly associated with having an advance directive or DNR order. CONCLUSION: Among general medicine inpatients at an urban academic medical center, those who were highly religious and/or spiritual were more likely to have a designated decision maker to help with end-of-life decisions but did not differ from other patients in their likelihood of having an advance directive or DNR order.

Duke Scholars

Altmetric Attention Stats
Dimensions Citation Stats

Published In

J Pain Symptom Manage

DOI

EISSN

1873-6513

Publication Date

December 2012

Volume

44

Issue

6

Start / End Page

843 / 851

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • Young Adult
  • Terminal Care
  • Spirituality
  • Sex Distribution
  • Resuscitation Orders
  • Religion
  • Proxy
  • Patient Preference
  • Male
  • Inpatients
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
NLM
Karches, K. E., Chung, G. S., Arora, V., Meltzer, D. O., & Curlin, F. A. (2012). Religiosity, spirituality, and end-of-life planning: a single-site survey of medical inpatients. J Pain Symptom Manage, 44(6), 843–851. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2011.12.277
Karches, Kyle E., Grace S. Chung, Vineet Arora, David O. Meltzer, and Farr A. Curlin. “Religiosity, spirituality, and end-of-life planning: a single-site survey of medical inpatients.J Pain Symptom Manage 44, no. 6 (December 2012): 843–51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2011.12.277.
Karches KE, Chung GS, Arora V, Meltzer DO, Curlin FA. Religiosity, spirituality, and end-of-life planning: a single-site survey of medical inpatients. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2012 Dec;44(6):843–51.
Karches, Kyle E., et al. “Religiosity, spirituality, and end-of-life planning: a single-site survey of medical inpatients.J Pain Symptom Manage, vol. 44, no. 6, Dec. 2012, pp. 843–51. Pubmed, doi:10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2011.12.277.
Karches KE, Chung GS, Arora V, Meltzer DO, Curlin FA. Religiosity, spirituality, and end-of-life planning: a single-site survey of medical inpatients. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2012 Dec;44(6):843–851.
Journal cover image

Published In

J Pain Symptom Manage

DOI

EISSN

1873-6513

Publication Date

December 2012

Volume

44

Issue

6

Start / End Page

843 / 851

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • Young Adult
  • Terminal Care
  • Spirituality
  • Sex Distribution
  • Resuscitation Orders
  • Religion
  • Proxy
  • Patient Preference
  • Male
  • Inpatients