Abstract
This chapter reviews the more than 100 meta-analyses and systematic reviews of relations between religion/spirituality (R/S) and health that have been published in refereed journals, a far larger number than is generally recognized. The 118 published reviews identified by 2017 were categorized as quantitative meta-analyses (n = 33), qualitative meta-syntheses (n = 7), meta-analyses of case studies (n = 1), or simple systematic reviews (n = 77). They addressed a wide range of substantive topics relevant to every major public health subfield, and incorporated a mean of 33.5 studies per review. Collectively authored by more than 200 distinct individuals, the reviews were published in 83 different journals, 20 in the category of public health. Multiple reviews were published by 14 journals, a majority possessing impact factors above 2.0. Reviewing empirical studies of R/S-health is clearly a very broad-based enterprise not limited to a few individuals or journals. Collectively, the reviews greatly strengthen the case, based on Hill’s criteria, that R/S exerts a causative influence on health. The case for causal influence may now be compelling, and in most cases R/S involvement is associated with better health, although negative associations also exist. Further investigation is warranted to explore the possibility that R/S is a “fundamental cause” of health that maintains an association even when intervening mediating pathways change. This possibility is consistent with the dynamic understandings of R/S presented elsewhere in this volume.
This chapter is one of thirteen reviews in this volume providing a public health perspective on the empirical evidence relating R/S to physical and mental health.
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Notes
- 1.
The searched EBSCO databases focused primarily on social science: EconLit 1969 – current, Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management 1967 – current, ERIC 1966 – current, International Bibliography of the Social Sciences 1951 – current, PILOTS: Published International Literature On Traumatic Stress 1871 – current, PsycINFO 1806-current, Social Services Abstracts 1979 – current, Sociological Abstracts 1952 – current, Worldwide Political Science Abstracts 1975 – current.
- 2.
Strings for R/S specified “relig*,” “spiritu*,” or a term for a specific tradition such as “Christ*,” “Islam*,” “Buddhi*”; Strings for review specified “systematic* review*,” “meta-analy*,” or “meta-s*” (for meta-synthesis).
- 3.
Authors of multiple reviews in the 2013 list were Michael E. McCullough (5 reviews); Harold G. Koenig, Kenneth I. Pargament, and Everett L. Worthington (3 each); Hana Ayele, Edzard Ernst, David R. Hodge, Violet E. Horvath, David B. Larson, Hung-Ru Lin, Thomas Mulligan, Lynda H. Powell, Lynn Rew, Timothy B. Smith, Melinda A. Stanley, Carl E. Thoresen, Joel Y. Wong, and Jerf W. K. Yeung (2 each).
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Oman, D., Syme, S.L. (2018). Weighing the Evidence: What Is Revealed by 100+ Meta-Analyses and Systematic Reviews of Religion/Spirituality and Health?. In: Oman, D. (eds) Why Religion and Spirituality Matter for Public Health. Religion, Spirituality and Health: A Social Scientific Approach, vol 2. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73966-3_15
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