Tenth International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

Spiritual wellbeing has been associated with various physical and mental health outcomes. Religious practices have seen to improve individual’s spiritual and mental health, yet this remains unexplored in many unsecular states including Pakistan. This study attempts to explore the impact of religious practices and beliefs on spirituality and spiritual wellbeing. A comparative cross sectional study was done on two groups, the religious practitioners and other professionals during May, 2018 through July, 2019. Pretested questionnaires called Spirituality Index of Wellbeing (SIWB) and The Daily Spiritual Experience Scale (DSES) were administered to collect data from a sample of 210 participants (105 in each group). Information was collected on various predictors of religious practices, religious beliefs and self-reported general health. The religious practitioners experienced a significantly higher spiritual wellbeing (mean 43.11 ± 10.3) in comparison to the non-religious professionals (mean 38.9 ± 10.1) (p = < 0.05) and a significantly higher daily spiritual experience (mean 26 ±6.6) in comparison of (23 ± 8) (p = <0.001). The Multivariate Linear Regression Model revealed that frequency of prayer was an important predictor of Spiritual Wellbeing. It was concluded that religious practices and religious beliefs improve spiritual wellbeing and spiritual experiences, and thereby produce positive mental and general health outcomes.