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	Institution: CLOCKSS  | My Account | E-mail Alerts | Access Rights | Sign In Vol. 7 No. 5, September 1998   Archives  • Online Features Original Contribution  This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on Web of Science (39)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Primary Care/ Family Medicine  • Alert me on articles by topic Religious Beliefs and Practices in Family Medicine Oliver Oyama, PhD; Harold G. Koenig, MD, MHSc Arch Fam Med. 1998;7:431-435. Objectives  To determine whether the religious beliefs and behaviors of family medicine outpatients differed from those of their physicians and whether patients' religiousness affects their expectations of their physicians regarding religious matters. Design  A survey study was performed on a consecutive sample of 380 family medicine clinic outpatients and 31 family medicine faculty and residents in 2 family medicine residency programs. Setting and Subjects  Outpatients were recruited from an outpatient clinic of a family medicine residency program in North Carolina. Family medicine physicians and residents were recruited from this program and another in Texas. Main Outcome Measures  Scores were obtained from the Springfield Religiosity Scale, the Hoge Intrinsic Religiosity Scale, and a religious beliefs questionnaire designed for this study. Results  Absence of religious affiliation was more common for physicians than patients. Physicians were less likely than patients to pray privately and less likely to hold intrinsic religious attitudes. Patients were more likely than physicians to be interested in their own physician's religious beliefs, more likely to feel that they should know their physician's religious beliefs, and more likely to want their physician to pray with them under certain circumstances. When sex and age were controlled, some of these differences disappeared. When compared with patients, physicians tended to be younger and male—characteristics inversely associated with religious belief and practice. Regardless of sex or age, however, the more religious the patients, the more likely the desire to know their physician's religious beliefs and share their own religious beliefs. Conclusions  Patients are more involved in religious beliefs and practices than physicians, a finding partially explained by age and sex. The more religious the patients, the more important it is for them to know their physician's beliefs, share their beliefs with their physician, and want their physicians to pray with them. From the Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Drs Oyama and Koenig) and Community and Family Medicine (Dr Oyama), Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC. THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES Religiosity and Spirituality Among Persons With Spinal Cord Injury: Attitudes, Beliefs, and Practices Marini and Glover-Graf Rehabil Couns Bull 2011;54:82-92. ABSTRACT   Influence of Prayer and Prayer Habits on Outcome in Patients With Severe Head Injury Vannemreddy et al. AM J HOSP PALLIAT CARE 2009;26:264-269. ABSTRACT   The 3 H and BMSEST Models for Spirituality in Multicultural Whole-Person Medicine Anandarajah Ann Fam Med 2008;6:448-458. ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT   Religious and Spiritual Beliefs and Practices of Persons With Chronic Pain Glover-Graf et al. Rehabil Couns Bull 2007;51:21-33. ABSTRACT   Concept Analysis of Religiosity Bjarnason Home Health Care Management Practice 2007;19:350-355. 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