Spirituality & Religion in People with

Schizophrenia
A Literature Review
Melissa Neathery, MSN, RN, CNE

Prevalence
84% of the worlds population adheres to
religious beliefs.
80% of people with severe mental illness
use religious beliefs or
practices to cope.
33% of patients
with schizophrenia are
involved with a
religious community.

PhD in Nursing Student

The University of Texas at Tyler - College of Nursing and Health Sciences

Spirituality & Quality of Life

Other Findings

Significant Positive Correlations:

People with Schizophrenia:

between positive religious coping and psychological

health facet of quality of life (Nolan, et al. 2012).

report wanting to have spiritual needs addressed.

(Koslander, 2006; Bellamy et al. 2007)

consider spirituality more important than general

population, but participate in community
religious activities less often.
(Huguelet et al. 2006)

between subscales of spirituality and overall quality of

life (Shah, et al., 2011).
Between proficiency of religion giving meaning to life
and quality of life (Mohr et al., 2011).

lack confidence in nurses abilities to discuss

spirituality.
(Koslander & Arvidsson, 2007)

(Huguelet et al. 2006)

Definitions
Spirituality

Religion

Informal
Personal
Intrinsic
Exploratory
Continuous

Organized
Communal
Extrinsic
Prescriptive
Ritualistic

Insignificant Correlations:

associate religious themes with coping, treatment

engagement, and help-seeking behaviors. (Smolak et al.

Between spiritual and religious well-being and quality

of life (Lanfredi et al., 2014).

2012).

demonstrate that spirituality remains stable over

time
(Mohr et al, 2012)

Comparison of Mental Illnesses

Diagnosis Number of
Studies

Positive
%

Negative
%

Mixed
%

Schizophrenia

40

20

40

Some researchers do not support

distinguishing between religion and
spirituality.

Depression

15

79

21

Bipolar

50

50

Spirituality is intimately connected to

religion.

Addiction

67

22
(11=NA)

(Russinove and Cash 2007)

Attempts to distinguish religion from

spirituality impoverish both concepts.

Positive: Significant positive relationship between religious involvement and better mental health
Negative: Significant negative relationship between religious involvement and better mental health
Mixed: Positive and negative association between religious involvement and mental health
Adapted from Bonelli, R. M. & Koenig, H. G. (2013). Mental disorders, religion and spirituality 1990 to 2010: A systematic
evidence-based review. Journal of Religion and Health, 52, 657-673.

Discussion
Although spirituality and religious beliefs have
been shown to correlate with positive mental
health outcomes, this area has been neglected in
mental health assessments, diagnoses, and
treatment of schizophrenia. Future nursing
research is needed to develop operational
definitions of spirituality/ religiosity, validate
spiritual assessment tools, and identify spirituallybased interventions.
Full list of references is available on separate sheet.