Impact of religiosity on the health of children with different levels of ASD in an association from Piauí.

• DOI: 10.22533/at.ed.1593292320045

• Palavras-chave: religiosidade, crianças, autismo

• Keywords: religiosity; children; autism

• Abstract:

  INTRODUCTION

  Spirituality and religiosity interfere with the health-disease process and patient longevity. In general, the impact is positive and associated with protection against diseases and better quality of life (MISHRA, 2017). Spirituality, which may or may not involve religious practices and groups, shows great potential for coping with stressful experiences (MARTÍNEZ, 2014). As an example, spirituality can be used as an ally in the traditional treatment of epilepsy and other neurological disorders, such as autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) (VANCINI, 2016). Thus, it is essential to establish the impact of spirituality and religiosity, also, on the quality of life and development of patients with ASD.

  OBJECTIVES

  To correlate the impact that religiosity causes on the health of children of different levels with ASD.

  METHODS

  Cross-sectional, analytical study with a qualitative approach. The sample is composed of 42 parents whose children have been diagnosed with some degree of ASD and who attend the Associação de Pais e Amigos dos Excepcionais (APAE) in Teresina. The research instruments chosen were the Duke Religiosity Scale (DUREL) and the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS). DUREL (HGK), contains 5 questions that capture 3 of the dimensions of religiosity that are most closely related to health outcomes: organizational, non-organizational, and intrinsic religiosity, in which the first two are related to indicators of physical and mental health and social support. The CARS is done through 15 questions related to different aspects of the child's life, so that it is possible to diagnose and define the degree of his or her ASD. After obtaining the data from the questionnaire, the data were filled in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and later analyzed using Spearman software.

  RESULTS

  The grouped data were analyzed using Spearman's correlation tests. The correlation coefficients of the CARS with the DUREL scale were: RO and RNO (-0.043; p= 0.788) and RI (0.169; p=0.314). Therefore, there was no significant association between the autism scale score and intrinsic religiosity nor with organizational and non-organizational religiosity.

  CONCLUSION:

  The study showed no association between the two variables analyzed, evidencing the complexity of the factors linked to the psychosocial and familial course of Autism.

  
  
  
   

  Table 1. Descriptive statistics

  

  Table 2. Spearman correlation coefficients

  VARIABLE		CARS	DUREL  (RO e RNO)	DUREL (RI)
  1. CARS	Spearman's rho	—
  	p-value	—
  2. DUREL (RO e RNO)	Spearman's rho	−0.043	—
  	p-value	0,788	—
  3. DUREL (RI)	Spearman's rho	0,159	0,307	—
  	p-value	0,314	0,048	—

  CONCLUSION

  Spearman test was calculated and the correlation coefficients between CARS and the DUREL scale were: RO and RNO (-0.043; p=0.788) and RI (0.169; p=0.314). Therefore, there was no significant association between the result of the autism scale and intrinsic religiosity nor with organizational and non-organizational religiosity.

  
  
   

  Referências

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  PUCHALSKI, Christina M. The role of spirituality in health care. In: Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings. Taylor & Francis, 2001. p. 352-357.

  SCHOPLER, Eric et al. Toward objective classification of childhood autism: Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS). Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 1980.

  SCHOPLER, Eric; REICHLER, Robert Jay; RENNER, Barbara Rochen. The childhood autism rating scale (CARS). Los Angeles: WPS, 2010.

  STRAWBRIDGE, William J. et al. Frequent attendance at religious services and mortality over 28 years. American Journal of Public Health, v. 87, n. 6, p. 957-961, 1997.

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