ABSTRACT
The aim of this study was to examine if church attendance was associated with quality of life (QoL) and feeling of loneliness among older adults in Poland, and if feeling of loneliness mediated the association. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with randomly selected community-dwelling individuals aged 65+ from the general population, hospital patients, and social service users. Church attendance was positively associated with QoL regardless of confounding factors. Older adults attending church frequently felt less lonely and evaluated their health better. Feeling of loneliness mediated the association between church attendance and QoL. Religiousness should be considered as an important determinant of healthy aging.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Data availability
The raw data were generated at the Jagiellonian University Medical College. Derived data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author [A.S.] on request.
Supplementary material
Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/15528030.2023.2186562.