• Giancarlo Lucchetti, Parameshwaran Ramakrishnan, Azimatul Karimah, Gabriela R Oliveira, Amit Dias, Anil Rane, A Shukla, S Lakshmi, B K Ansari, R S Ramaswamy, Rajender A Reddy, Antoinette Tribulato, Anil K Agarwal, Jagadish Bhat, Namburu Satyaprasad, Mushtaq Ahmad, Pasupuleti Hanumantha Rao, Pratima Murthy, Kuntaman Kuntaman, Harold G Koenig, and Alessandra L G Lucchetti.
• Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Avenida Eugênio do Nascimento s/n - Aeroporto, 36038330, Juiz de Fora, MG, Brazil. g.lucchetti@yahoo.com.br.
• Int J Behav Med. 2016 Feb 1; 23 (1): 63-70.

BackgroundOne of the biggest challenges in the spirituality, religiosity, and health field is to understand how patients and physicians from different cultures deal with spiritual and religious issues in clinical practice.PurposeThe present study aims to compare physicians' perspectives on the influence of spirituality and religion (S/R) on health between Brazil, India, and Indonesia.MethodThis is a cross-sectional, cross-cultural, multi-center study carried out from 2010 to 2012, examining physicians' attitudes from two continents. Participants completed a self-rated questionnaire that collected information on sociodemographic characteristics, S/R involvement, and perspectives concerning religion, spirituality, and health. Differences between physicians' responses in each country were examined using chi-squared, ANOVA, and MANCOVA.ResultsA total of 611 physicians (194 from Brazil, 295 from India, and 122 from Indonesia) completed the survey. Indonesian physicians were more religious and more likely to address S/R when caring for patients. Brazilian physicians were more likely to believe that S/R influenced patients' health. Brazilian and Indonesians were as likely as to believe that it is appropriate to talk and discuss S/R with patients, and more likely than Indians. No differences were found concerning attitudes toward spiritual issues.ConclusionPhysicians from these different three countries had very different attitudes on spirituality, religiosity, and health. Ethnicity and culture can have an important influence on how spirituality is approached in medical practice. S/R curricula that train physicians how to address spirituality in clinical practice must take these differences into account.

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