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(Stroke. 2007;38:848.)
© 2007 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorial

Faith Under the Microscope

Lalit Kalra, MD, PhD

From the Department of Stroke Medicine, King’s College London School of Medicine, London, UK.

Correspondence to Lalit Kalra, Department of Stroke Medicine, King’s College London School of Medicine, Denmark Hill Campus, Bessemer Rd, London SE5 9PJ, UK. E-mail lalit.kalra@kcl.ac.uk

Key Words: outcomes • psych & behavior • rehabilitation

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

See related article, pages 993–997.

Stroke affects many dimensions of human behavior and performance, often with profound and long-lasting consequences. Recent years have seen dramatic progress in the measurement and alleviation of the neurological, physical, cognitive and psychological consequences of stroke. In contrast, the adjustments that many patients have to make to a restricted life and their determinants remain poorly understood, despite their importance in the long-term well-being and quality of life of stroke survivors.

This unique and well-designed study investigates the role of religious beliefs in enhancing the ability to cope and reducing emotional distress in stroke survivors.¹ The strength of this study is that it includes acute stroke patients in whom stroke characteristics, level of impairments, disability and emotional state were clearly defined. Religious beliefs and spirituality were measured using a validated instrument. Outcome measures were predefined and data were subjected to rigorous statistical evaluation in models with construct and criterion validity, lending further objectivity and credence to the results. The central message of the study is that people with religious beliefs experience the same amount of stress as those people who do not have these beliefs but are able to deal better with negative life events and the attendant stress. Although this association may sound intuitive, the positive role of religion in life adjustments after stroke has not been systematically examined previously, especially in a well-characterized sample of acute stroke patients and using objective measures of outcome.

The study makes an important contribution to rehabilitation literature . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Related Article:

Can Faith Protect From Emotional Distress After Stroke?

Salvatore Giaquinto, Cristiana Spiridigliozzi, and Barbara Caracciolo
Stroke 2007 38: 993-997. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

				L. Kalra and R. R. Ratan Advances in Stroke Regenerative Medicine 2007 Stroke, February 1, 2008; 39(2): 273 - 275. [Full Text] [PDF]