Role of Religious Involvement in Good Health: A Systematic Review

Abstract

A growing body of research has suggested that religious involvement might be prominent factor to maintain physical health, mental health and well-being. The present study analyses previous studies related to religion and health in order to examine the role of religious involvement in health using systematic review method. Four hundred twenty abstracts were screened out of which 32 full articles were included after applying inclusion criteria. It was found that relationship of organizational religious practices, positive religious coping and intrinsic religiosity with health was strongly positive across all studies while relationship of importance of religion and private religious practices with health was not consistent across studies. Some indicated positive and some indicated negative impact of them on health. Thus, this paper is an attempt to focus on conducting more empirical research to find out consistent findings with regard to the relationship of religious involvement with health and well-being.