This application is for a five year period during which I will devote 75% of my time annually to the educational and research activities described in this proposal. ? ? Education: Two types of educational activities are proposed. The first will be earning a Ph.D. degree with a concentration in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The course work for the degree will be concentrated in the first 2 years of the award, but will continue throughout the award. Course work in the ethics of research will be included. The second type of educational activity will be consultation with my mentor, co-mentor, and other consultants as I pursue 3 specific research projects. This research activity will be concentrated in the last 3 years of the award. ? ? Research: The 3 research projects proposed here are designed to answer 2 questions. First, do daily spiritual experiences, such as awe and gratitude, affect health? Second, where in the disease process do these spiritual experiences exert their effect? By employing 3 different endpoints, the projects proposed here will permit us to examine three different ways in which spiritual experiences may exert an effect on the disease process: by reducing CV risk factors, by diminishing subclinical disease, or by reducing disability. We propose to answer these two questions by examining the relationship between spirituality and health in two large, heterogeneous, community-based studies, the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation (SWAN), and the Chicago Health and Aging Project (CHAP). ? ? Environment: Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center has an extensive research program in many departments. The persons who have agreed to be my mentors are Rush investigators with nationally recognized expertise in longitudinal studies of health in middle age and older adults. ? ? Goals: My goal is to develop the skills to independently conduct high quality research that furthers our understanding of the role of religion and spirituality in both maintaining health and coping with illness. In addition, I would like to help health professionals translate information from this research into more effective clinical care and provide education in research about religion/spirituality and health for other health professionals.
| Fitchett, George; Benjamins, Maureen R; Skarupski, Kimberly A et al. (2013) Worship attendance and the disability process in community-dwelling older adults. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 68:235-45 |
| Skarupski, Kimberly A; Fitchett, George; Evans, Denis A et al. (2013) Race differences in the association of spiritual experiences and life satisfaction in older age. Aging Ment Health 17:888-95 |
| Skarupski, Kimberly A; Fitchett, George; Evans, Denis A et al. (2010) Daily spiritual experiences in a biracial, community-based population of older adults. Aging Ment Health 14:779-89 |
| Fitchett, George; Powell, Lynda H (2009) Daily spiritual experiences, systolic blood pressure, and hypertension among midlife women in SWAN. Ann Behav Med 37:257-67 |
| Canada, Andrea L; Murphy, Patricia E; Fitchett, George et al. (2008) A 3-factor model for the FACIT-Sp. Psychooncology 17:908-16 |
| Daugherty, Christopher K; Fitchett, George; Murphy, Patricia E et al. (2005) Trusting God and medicine: spirituality in advanced cancer patients volunteering for clinical trials of experimental agents. Psychooncology 14:135-46 |
| Fitchett, George; Murphy, Patricia E; Kim, Jo et al. (2004) Religious struggle: prevalence, correlates and mental health risks in diabetic, congestive heart failure, and oncology patients. Int J Psychiatry Med 34:179-96 |
