How Does Spirituality Promote Health?

In recent years, a multitude of studies have confirmed the strong correlation between health and various measures of spirituality. An important next step for research on spirituality and health is to begin to identify the underlying chemical, physiological, or immunological mechanisms that cause this correlation. Such research would provide new insights into why and how spirituality has a discernible impact on health. With this broader conceptual horizon, the field could build on its current emphasis on coping with illness and contribute more substantially to discussions about the full range of factors that contribute to human health and thriving.

In asking "How Does Spirituality Promote Health?" the Foundations aims to encourage researchers to develop new modules that can be added to existing data sets in order to answer these important questions in the field of spirituality and health, where previously the possibility for breakthrough discoveries has been limited in part by the kinds of data that are available. Often the problem is either that surveys with good questions on health have poor measures of spirituality, or that good studies of spirituality have limited questions on health.

This 2010 Funding Priority aims to generate cost-effective research proposals for adding new modules to existing or forthcoming data sets in response to one or more of the following Big Questions:

1. 1 Does spirituality need to include a religious component for it to have a beneficial impact on health?
2. 2 Can religious involvement affect the aging process, and if so, how?
3. 3 What kinds of spirituality reduce mortality?

Budget range and term for individual projects: From $50,000 to $200,000 and for up to two years.