Religiousness among terminally ill and healthy adults

The purpose of this study was to compare terminally ill with healthy adults for differences in religiousness; sense of well‐being also was explored. This study was based upon a conceptualization of dying as a developmental phase of life. It was hypothesized that terminally ill adults report greater religiousness than healthy adults. A terminally ill and a healthy group with 57 adults each were matched on four key variables: age, gender, education, and religious affiliation. All 114 participants completed two questionnaires: the Religious Perspective Scale and the Index of Well‐Being. A t‐test of differences between the group means supported the hypothesis (t (112) = 3.11, p < .001). There was no difference between the groups on sense of well‐being; both indicated moderately high levels of well‐being. A positive relationship between religiousness and well‐being was found in the healthy group (r = .43, p < .001), but not in the terminally ill group.