Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37180747›Full record

ArticleThe Lancet regional health. Europe2023

Spiritual needs in Denmark: a population-based cross-sectional survey linked to Danish national registers.

Tobias Anker Stripp, Sonja Wehberg, Arndt Büssing, Harold G Koenig, Tracy A Balboni, Tyler J VanderWeele, Jens Søndergaard, Niels Christian Hvidt

Open access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in The Lancet regional health. Europe, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
12citing papers in PubMed
8.5field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

12 citing papers in PubMed, 31 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 4 institutions in 4 countries.

Tobias Anker StrippResearch Unit for General Practice, Department of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
Sonja WehbergResearch Unit for General Practice, Department of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
Arndt BüssingProfessorship Quality of Life, Spirituality and Coping, Faculty of Health, Witten/Herdecke University, Herdecke, Germany.
Harold G KoenigDepartment of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA.
Tracy A BalboniDana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center, Boston, MA, USA.
Tyler J VanderWeeleDepartment of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Jens SøndergaardResearch Unit for General Practice, Department of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
Niels Christian HvidtResearch Unit for General Practice, Department of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
Harvard University · USUniversity of Southern Denmark · DKKing Abdulaziz University · SAWitten/Herdecke University · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Spiritual aspects of the human condition may give rise to spiritual pain and suffering, especially in the face of illness or difficult life situations. A growing volume of research documents the effects of religiosity, spirituality, meaning, and purpose on health. In supposedly secular societies, however, spiritual matters are rarely addressed in healthcare. This is the first large scale study to examine spiritual needs in Danish culture, and the largest study on spiritual needs to date. Methods: A population-based sample of 104,137 adult (≥18 yrs) Danes were surveyed cross-sectionally (the EXICODE study) and responses were linked to data from Danish national registers. The primary outcome was spiritual needs in four dimensions: religious, existential, generativity, and inner peace. Logistic regression models were fitted to examine the relationship between participant characteristics and spiritual needs. Findings: A total of 26,678 participants responded to the survey (25.6%). Of included participants 19,507 (81.9%) reported at least one strong or very strong spiritual need in the past month. The Danes scored highest on inner peace needs, followed by generativity, then existential, and lastly, religious needs. Affiliating as religious or spiritual, regularly meditating or praying, or reporting low health, low life satisfaction, or low well-being increased the odds of having spiritual needs. Interpretation: This study demonstrated that spiritual needs are common among Danes. These findings have important implications for public health policies and clinical care. Care for the spiritual dimension of health is warranted as part of holistic, person-centered care in what we term 'post-secular' societies. Future research should inform how spiritual needs might be addressed in healthy and diseased populations in Denmark and other European countries and the clinical effectiveness of such interventions. Funding: The paper was supported by the Danish Cancer Society (R247-A14755), The Jascha Foundation (ID 3610), The Danish Lung Foundation, AgeCare, and the University of Southern Denmark.

Indexed as

Holistic carePost-secularPublic healthSecularSpiritual careSpiritualitySpiritual need

Identifiers

PMID37180747
PMCPMC10173272
OpenAlexW4323979891

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.