Religious Activities, Strength from Faith, and Social Functioning Among African American and White Nursing Home Residents

This study explored the effects of having a preference for religious activities in the nursing home, and of drawing strength from faith on social functioning in a random sample of 1,595 White and 172 African American residents from 270 nursing homes. Nurses assessed residents using the Minimum Data Set (MDS). Utilizing Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression, in the sub-sample of Whites we found that activities of daily living (ADL), cognitive, and vision impairments, depression, and no contact with family or friends were negatively related to social functioning, while being female, preferring religious activities, and drawing strength from faith were positively related to social functioning. Among African Americans, we found that ADL, cognitive impairment, and depression were negatively related to social functioning, while religious activity preference and strength from faith were positively related to social functioning. Among Whites, faith moderated the negative effects of having no contact with family or friends and religious activity preference exacerbated the negative effects of cognitive impairment on social functioning. Among African Americans, faith moderated the negative effects of depression. These findings suggest that Durkheim's hypothesis of religion's influence on social solidarity is supported in the nursing home setting. The positive effects of religious activities and strength from faith operated primarily through a distress-deterrent model, but there was also some support for moderation effects. Theoretical, research design, and nursing home practice implications of the findings are discussed. (C) 2007 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.