Religious Activity, Psychotic Features, and Suicidality in 688 Acute Psychiatric Inpatients.

Résumé

BACKGROUND: Religiosity has been linked to mental health outcomes for decades. This study examined the potential relationship between religiosity and demographic and clinical variables in a sample of psychiatric inpatients.METHODS: In total, 688 adults admitted to an acute psychiatric facility with a primary mood or psychotic disorder completed the Duke University Religion Index (DUREL). The DUREL measures religious activity in 3 domains: organizational religious activity (ORA), nonorganizational religious activity (NORA), and intrinsic (or subjective) religiosity (IR). We categorized scores into high and low religiosity. Bivariate analyses with χ and independent sample t tests were used to examine the association between the DUREL subscales and demographic, clinical, and outcome measures. A generalized linear model was used to identify predictors of suicidality, psychosis, and 30-day rehospitalization.RESULTS: Elevated religious activity was common in the inpatient sample, with 58% categorized as high IR, 43% as high NORA, and 36% as high ORA. For all 3 DUREL subscales, high religiosity scores were associated with significantly more psychosis (P