Dr. Curlin's career aim is to study the ways physicians' religious commitments shape clinical decisions. Growing interest in unconventional healing practices has been described as an expression of cultural, religious, and ethnic diversity which exposes the long-standing existence of medical pluralism. Physicians' religious commitments, as integral aspects of their culture or worldview, will influence patients' health to the extent they shape physicians' clinical recommendations. Prior studies have consistently found that physicians' religious commitments strongly predict their approaches to ethically controversial clinical practices, but we know little about the ways physicians' religious commitments shape their clinical practice in other domains. Dr. Curlin will build on ground-breaking preliminary studies which include the first comprehensive national study of physicians' religious characteristics and their approaches to the subject of spirituality in medicine. He will study the ways physicians' religious commitments shape their interpretations of which healing practices might be integrated as legitimate alternatives and which are to be recommended in particular clinical contexts. First he will conduct cognitive interviews with physicians from a range of religious affiliations, followed by a pilot survey of a national sample of physicians, to determine which among the many constructs for measuring religion are the most salient predictors of physicians' self-predicted clinical practices in contexts of relative medical uncertainty, psychological and spiritual suffering, the margins of life, and ethical complexity. Next, he will conduct a national survey which will examine the relationship between physicians' religious commitments, their beliefs about the legitimacy of different unconventional healing practices, and their willingness to integrate those practices into their own care of patients. Finally, he will conduct in-depth qualitative interviews with physicians from a range of religious affiliations to explore the ways physicians make sense of any connection between their own religious commitments and their attitudes toward different unconventional healing practices. This research will greatly increase knowledge regarding the ways that religious commitments influence the forms of """"""""integrated medicine"""""""" that physicians would be willing to offer to patients.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Center for Complementary & Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)
Type
Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award (K23)
Project #
5K23AT002749-03
Application #
7274879
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZAT1-LD (04))
Program Officer
Stoney, Catherine
Project Start
2005-09-30
Project End
2010-09-29
Budget Start
2007-09-30
Budget End
2008-09-29
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2007
Total Cost
$126,046
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Chicago
Department
Internal Medicine/Medicine
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
005421136
City
Chicago
State
IL
Country
United States
Zip Code
60637
Lawrence, Ryan E; Rasinski, Kenneth A; Yoon, John D et al. (2015) Physician race and treatment preferences for depression, anxiety, and medically unexplained symptoms. Ethn Health 20:354-64
Yoon, John D; Shin, Jiwon H; Nian, Andy L et al. (2015) Religion, sense of calling, and the practice of medicine: findings from a national survey of primary care physicians and psychiatrists. South Med J 108:189-95
Lawrence, Ryan E; Rasinski, Kenneth A; Yoon, John D et al. (2014) Primary care physicians' and psychiatrists' willingness to refer to religious mental health providers. Int J Soc Psychiatry 60:627-36
Putman, Michael S; Yoon, John D; Rasinski, Kenneth A et al. (2014) Directive counsel and morally controversial medical decision-making: findings from two national surveys of primary care physicians. J Gen Intern Med 29:335-40
Shin, Jiwon Helen; Yoon, John D; Rasinski, Kenneth A et al. (2013) A spiritual problem? Primary care physicians' and psychiatrists' interpretations of medically unexplained symptoms. J Gen Intern Med 28:392-8
Sheppe, Alexander H; Nicholson 3rd, Roscoe F; Rasinski, Kenneth A et al. (2013) Providing guidance to patients: physicians' views about the relative responsibilities of doctors and religious communities. South Med J 106:399-406
Lawrence, Ryan E; Rasinski, Kenneth A; Yoon, John D et al. (2013) Religion and anxiety treatments in primary care patients. Anxiety Stress Coping 26:526-38
Lawrence, Ryan E; Rasinski, Kenneth A; Yoon, John D et al. (2013) Religion and beliefs about treating medically unexplained symptoms: a survey of primary care physicians and psychiatrists. Int J Psychiatry Med 45:31-44
Lawrence, Ryan E; Rasinski, Kenneth A; Yoon, John D et al. (2013) Physicians' Beliefs about the nature of addiction: a survey of primary care physicians and psychiatrists. Am J Addict 22:255-60
Sobecki, Janelle N; Curlin, Farr A; Rasinski, Kenneth A et al. (2012) What we don't talk about when we don't talk about sex: results of a national survey of U.S. obstetrician/gynecologists. J Sex Med 9:1285-94

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