Spirituality as a determinant of health : Emerging policies, practices, and systems

Journal article


Long, Katelyn N. G., Symons, Xavier, VanderWeele, Tyler J., Balboni, Tracy A., Rosmarin, David H., Puchalski, Christina, Cutts, Teresa, Gunderson, Gary R., Idler, Ellen, Oman, Doug, Balboni, Michael J., Tuach, Laura S. and Koh, Howard K.. (2024). Spirituality as a determinant of health : Emerging policies, practices, and systems. Health Affairs. 43(6), pp. 783-790. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2023.01643
AuthorsLong, Katelyn N. G., Symons, Xavier, VanderWeele, Tyler J., Balboni, Tracy A., Rosmarin, David H., Puchalski, Christina, Cutts, Teresa, Gunderson, Gary R., Idler, Ellen, Oman, Doug, Balboni, Michael J., Tuach, Laura S. and Koh, Howard K.
Abstract

Reimagining public health’s future should include explicitly considering spirituality as a social determinant of health that is linked to human goods and is deeply valued by people and their communities. Spirituality includes a sense of ultimate meaning, purpose, transcendence, and connectedness. With that end in mind, we assessed how recommendations recently issued by an expert panel for integrating spiritual factors into public health and medicine are being adopted in current practice in the United States. These recommendations emerged from a systematic review of empirical evidence on spirituality, serious illness, and population health published between 2000 and 2022. For each recommendation, we reviewed current federal, state, and local policies and practices recognizing spiritual factors, and we considered the ways in which they reflected the panel’s recommendations. In this article, we highlight opportunities for broader application and scale while also noting the potential harms and benefits associated with incorporating these recommendations in various contexts. This analysis, while respecting the spiritual and religious diversity of the US population, identifies promising approaches for strengthening US public health by integrating spiritual considerations to inform person- and community-centered policy and practice.

Year2024
JournalHealth Affairs
Journal citation43 (6), pp. 783-790
PublisherProject Hope
ISSN1544-5208
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2023.01643
PubMed ID38830169
Scopus EID2-s2.0-85194992663
Open accessPublished as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
Page range783-790
FunderTempleton Religion Trust
Publisher's version
License
File Access Level
Open
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Online03 Jun 2024
Publication process dates
Deposited01 Jul 2025
Grant IDTRT-2022-30967
Additional information

This open access article is distributed in accordance with the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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