Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #104585

Mahyar Mofidi, DMD, MPH, Health Behavior and Health Education, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 302 Rosenau Hall, Campus Box 7440, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, 919-423-2394, mahyarm@aol.com, Brenda DeVellis, PhD, Dept of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of North Carolina, CB #7400, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7400, and Robert F. Devellis, PhD, Thurston Arthritis Research Center, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, 3330 Thurston Building, CB#7280, Chapel Hill, NC 27599.

Purpose: Depression is a serious public health problem. Increasingly, theorists and researchers have considered spirituality as a potential psychosocial resource that may influence depression. Relatively few studies have investigated the mechanisms by which spirituality might affect depression. The purpose of this study was to identify the possible mechanisms that may account for the relationship between spirituality and depression.

Methods: Cross-sectional data were drawn from a community-dwelling stratified sample of 630 adults in rural North Carolina. Spirituality was assessed by six items of the Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale. Depression was measured using four subscales from the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression. Hypothesized mediators were optimism, volunteering, and perceived social support. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test whether proposed mediators explain the linkage between spirituality and depression.

Results: Bivariate analysis shows that spirituality was negatively and significantly correlated with depression. However, when mediators were incorporated in the model, spirituality was not directly related to depression. Spirituality was significantly and positively associated with optimism and volunteering but not with perceived social support. Optimism, volunteering, and social support were all negatively associated with depression. Spirituality had a significant indirect effect on both social support and depression. A full SEM model involving optimism, volunteering, and social support to explain the spirituality-depression linkage demonstrated a satisfactory fit.

Conclusions: The influence of spirituality on depression was mediated by optimism, volunteering, and social support. Public health programs that use spirituality as a strategy to address depression may be strengthened by linking spirituality to optimism and volunteering.

Learning Objectives:

• List three potential mechanisms that link spirituality to mental health;
• Identify the strongest mechanisms linking spirituality to mental health;
• Develop spiritually related interventions, particularly in the health care enviornments

Keywords: Religion, Mental Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.