Positive Religious Coping and Associated Factors Among Participants with Severe Mental Illness Attending Felege Hiwot Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, 2021

Abstract

Background

Religion has been reported to be the most widely used coping resource in stressful conditions including physical and mental illnesses. Different studies consistently find that positive religious coping is associated with a reduced level of severe mental illness such as depression. Despite its high prevalence and being a significant coping mechanism for persons with severe mental illness, there are no published studies on positive religious coping in Ethiopia.

Objective

To assess the prevalence of positive religious coping and associated factors among people with severe mental illness attending outpatient service at Felege Hiwot Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Bahir Dar, northwest Ethiopia, 2021.

Methods

A cross-sectional institution-based study was conducted and systematic random sampling was applied to select participants. Data were collected through a face-to-face interview. The collected data were entered into EpiData version 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 20 for processing and analysis. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify independent factors associated with religious coping. P-value <0.05 was declared a statistically significant association with a 95% confidence interval.

Results

The prevalence of positive religious coping among severe mental illness was 72.4% (95% CI= 68.2, 76.4). Having no comorbid medical illness, good quality of life, good medication adherence, and mild subjective severity scale were associated with positive religious coping.

Conclusion

The magnitude of positive religious coping among severe mental illness was relatively high. Not having a comorbid medical illness, good medication adherence, good quality of life, and mild subjective severity scale were factors associated with it. Patients report different factors that affect practicing positive religious coping factors. In the other direction, positive religious coping was reported to contribute to symptom alleviating and increasing a sense of well-being.

Keywords:

• religious
• positive religious coping
• severe mental illness

Abbreviation

BDo, Bipolar Disorder; BRCOOP, Brief Religious Coop; FHCSH, Felege Hiwot Comprehensive Specialized Hospital; MDD, Major Depressive Disorder; NRC, Negative Religious Coping; PRC, Positive Religious Coping; QOL, Quality of Life; RC, Religious Coping; WHODAS, World Health Organization Disability Assessment Scale.

Data Sharing Statement

The data set used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author and they will be deposited in publically available repositories or those wishing to use them for non-commercial purposes, without breaching participants’ confidentiality.

Ethical Approval and Consent to Participate

All method was conducted according to the ethical standard of the Declaration of Helsinki. Ethical clearance was obtained from the institutional review board of Bahir Dar University. Detailed information about the study was explained to participants in the information sheet. Written informed consent was obtained from participants who have formal education and informed verbal consent was obtained from participants who have no formal education because they did not read the written informed consent and approved by the institutional review board (IRB) of Bahir Dar University. The Privacy and confidentiality of study participants’ information were kept at every stage of data processing by excluding any personal identifiers in the questionnaire.

Acknowledgment

We would like to express our deepest heartfelt thanks to Bahir Dar University and the study participants.

Author Contributions

NE and BB made a significant contribution to the work reported, whether that is in the conception, study design, execution, acquisition of data, analysis, and interpretation, or all these areas. NE and BB took part in drafting, revising or critically reviewing the article; gave final approval of the version to be published; have agreed on the journal to which the article has been submitted; and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Disclosure

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.