Do Religious Coping and Attachment to God Affect Perceived Pain? Study of the Elderly with Chronic Back Pain in Iran

Religious Coping (RC) refers to the individual’s ability to understand and cope with the stress in life. Attachment is a God relatively stable emotional bond that forms through continuous communication and requires interaction, pleasure and relaxation. Considering the increasing population of the elderly and the role of pain in their health status, the present study was conducted aimed to determine the relationship between RC and attachment to God with perceived pain in the elderly with chronic low back pain (CLBP) in Ilam in Iran. The present study is a descriptive cross-sectional one in the elderly group with chronic low back pain in 2018. A total of 300 elderly patients with chronic low back pain were enrolled using convenience sampling. The tools used included demographic characteristics form, religious coping questionnaire, attachment to God’s questionnaire and perceived pain intensity questionnaire. The findings indicated that the mean (SD) of the total score of attachment to God variables was 65.71 (2.64), religious coping was 20.67 (2.59), chronic pain acceptance was 17.29 (6.66), and perceived pain was 5.81 (2.65). Also, there was a meaningful correlation between the intensity of the pain and the level of attachment to God and religious coping. Therefore, it is suggested that appropriate religious interventions for elderly patients with chronic pain should be undertaken to reduce their pain status in order to help improve their quality of life.