- To determine the influence of religious coping and religiousness on the psychological functioning of Polish patients before and after arthroplasty, a prospective study was performed. Out of a pool of 102 potential participants, a total of 61 (34 females, 27 males) completed a purposely created survey, Brief-COPE followed by preoperative and postoperative Perceived Stress Scale, State Trait Anxiety Inventory and Satisfaction with Life Scale. Religious coping was not associated with: (1) perceived stress before or after surgery; (2) preoperative or postoperative anxiety; (3) life satisfaction. A two-factor ANOVA has shown that religious coping controlled by religiousness was related to better psychological functioning. Between- and within-subjects effects were observed for improvement in life satisfaction measured by split-plot ANOVA, which suggests (p < 0.05) that such improvement was greater among subjects of higher religious orientation. We concluded that religious strategies in dealing with stress measured by Brief-COPE were least likely to benefit patients of low-religious orientation. The study demonstrated the importance of core religious beliefs in predicting benefits derived from religiousness in the face of a crisis. This study showed that regardless of its effectiveness, turning to religion is common among Polish patients about to undergo surgery for osteoarthritis of the hip. |