J Relig Health. 2012 Jun;51(2):460-7. doi: 10.1007/s10943-012-9568-y.
I address two related questions in this article. First, why conduct research on religion/spirituality (R/S) and health? Second, what are the dangers of misinterpreting or misapplying the results from such research? If relationships are found, so what? What is the practical value or clinical relevance of such information? Why should investigators spend time and scarce financial resources to explore such connections? What might health care professionals do differently as a result? How would people live their lives differently in light of such information? Questions like these need solid answers for the field to continue to move forward. Related to the "So what?" question is the issue of how results from research in this area are translated into popular understanding and application. After discussing why conducting research on religion and health is important, I identify a recently published research report that focuses on the relationship between R/S and self-control, an article that received considerable media press coverage. I present the results reported by the authors of this study and then examine a column written about the study that appeared in the New York Times. Finally, I explore what the findings mean, how the media portrayed the findings, and problems that might result depending on how people applied those findings.
在本文中，我将探讨两个相关问题。首先，为什么要研究宗教/灵性（R/S）与健康之间的关系？其次，错误解读或错误应用此类研究结果会带来哪些危险？如果发现了相关性，那又意味着什么？此类信息有什么实际价值或临床意义？为什么研究人员要花费时间和宝贵的资金来探索这些关联？作为结果，医疗保健专业人员会有哪些不同的做法？根据这些信息，人们的生活会有哪些不同？为了推动该领域的进一步发展，这些问题都需要得到明确的答案。与“那又怎样？”这个问题相关的是如何将该领域的研究结果转化为大众的理解和应用。在讨论了研究宗教与健康的重要性之后，我将介绍一篇最近发表的研究报告，该报告重点关注 R/S 与自我控制之间的关系，这是一篇引起了广泛媒体关注的文章。我将呈现该研究报告作者所报告的结果，然后研究《纽约时报》上刊登的一篇关于该研究的专栏文章。最后，我将探讨这些发现的意义、媒体对这些发现的描述，以及根据人们对这些发现的应用程度可能会产生的问题。
