Curlin Farr A, Odell Shaun V, Lawrence Ryan E, Chin Marshall H, Lantos John D, Meador Keith G, Koenig Harold G
Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
Psychiatr Serv. 2007 Sep;58(9):1193-8. doi: 10.1176/ps.2007.58.9.1193.
This study compared the religious characteristics of psychiatrists with those of other physicians and explored whether nonpsychiatrist physicians who are religious are less willing than their colleagues to refer patients to psychiatrists and psychologists.
Surveys were mailed to a stratified random sample of 2,000 practicing U.S. physicians, with an oversampling of psychiatrists. Physicians were queried about their religious characteristics. They also read a brief vignette about a patient with ambiguous psychiatric symptoms and were asked whether they would refer the patient to a clergy member or religious counselor, or to a psychiatrist or a psychologist.
A total of 1,144 physicians completed the survey, including 100 psychiatrists. Compared with other physicians, psychiatrists were more likely to be Jewish (29% versus 13%) or without a religious affiliation (17% versus 10%), less likely to be Protestant (27% versus 39%) or Catholic (10% versus 22%), less likely to be religious in general, and more likely to consider themselves spiritual but not religious (33% versus 19%). Nonpsychiatrist physicians who were religious were more willing to refer patients to clergy members or religious counselors (multivariate odds ratios from 2.9 to 5.7) and less willing to refer patients to psychiatrists or psychologists (multivariate odds ratios from .4 to .6).
Psychiatrists are less religious than other physicians, and religious physicians are less willing than nonreligious physicians to refer patients to psychiatrists. These findings suggest that historic tensions between religion and psychiatry continue to shape the care that patients receive for mental health concerns.
本研究比较了精神科医生与其他医生的宗教特征，并探讨有宗教信仰的非精神科医生是否比其同事更不愿意将患者转诊给精神科医生和心理医生。
向2000名美国执业医生的分层随机样本邮寄调查问卷，其中精神科医生为过度抽样。询问医生们的宗教特征。他们还阅读了一篇关于有模糊精神症状患者的简短病例，并被问及是否会将该患者转诊给神职人员或宗教顾问，或者转诊给精神科医生或心理医生。
共有1144名医生完成了调查，其中包括100名精神科医生。与其他医生相比，精神科医生更有可能是犹太教徒（29%对13%）或无宗教信仰（17%对10%），不太可能是新教徒（27%对39%）或天主教徒（10%对22%），总体上宗教信仰程度较低，更有可能认为自己有精神信仰但无宗教信仰（33%对19%）。有宗教信仰的非精神科医生更愿意将患者转诊给神职人员或宗教顾问（多变量优势比为2.9至5.7），而不太愿意将患者转诊给精神科医生或心理医生（多变量优势比为0.4至0.6）。
精神科医生的宗教信仰程度低于其他医生，有宗教信仰的医生比无宗教信仰的医生更不愿意将患者转诊给精神科医生。这些发现表明，宗教与精神病学之间的历史紧张关系继续影响着患者在心理健康问题上所接受的治疗。
