Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on communal religious worshippers’ mental health and the benefits of positive religious coping

作者：Rebecca F. Baggaley, Kai Man Alexander Ho, John Maltby, Timothy Stone, Áine Hoga, Christopher R. Johnson, Robert Merrifield, Laurence Lovat · 发表于：Heliyon · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e39093 · 被引用次数：3 · 研究领域：Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology、COVID-19 and Mental Health、Media, Religion, Digital Communication

Background: In the United Kingdom, onsite religious services were halted during COVID-19 lockdowns, which were followed by various levels of restrictions on communal worship including social distancing, mandatory wearing of face masks, adequate ventilation and a ban on congregational singing and chanting. The aim of our study was to evaluate the impact of closures and changes within places of worship in response to the first lockdown in 2020, to assess the effect of the pandemic on religious practice and worshippers' wellbeing and religious coping. Methods: Participants were regular worshippers in the UK, recruited through an online survey using convenience sampling. Respondents were asked about their attitudes to changes to places of worship in the UK and their wellbeing and mental health, including assessment of their risk of depression and anxiety using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and Generalised Anxiety Disorder Assessment (GAD-7) measures. Questionnaires were completed August to November 2020. Findings: 939 participants were included in the analysis. Median age was 52.7 years and 66.1 % were female. 80.7 % identified as Christian. 165 (19.3 %) had mild, 45 (5.3 %) moderate, 25 (2.9 %) moderately severe and 10 (1.2 %) severe depression, and 192 (22.5 %) had mild, 55 (6.4 %) moderate and 27 (3.2 %) severe anxiety, according to PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scores, respectively. Nearly half (46.4 %) reported that their mood and anxiety levels had worsened and 16.6 % reported...