Cumhuriyet İlahiyat Dergisi

Öz

The aim of this study, which is a field reseach, is to determine the
level of religiosity and subjective well-being (SWB) of patients with chronic
renal failure who are receiving hemodialysis treatment with a descriptive
approach and by using socio-psychological methods and to try to determine the
relationship between their religiosity and subjective well-being. The sample of
the study consists of 205 individuals who were determined by stratified random
sampling method from the patients treated in Turkish Ministry of Health, Hitit
University Çorum Erol Olçok Training and Research Hospital and Çorum District
Dialysis Units. 54.1% (n=111) of the participants are males and 45.9% (n=94)
are females. Data was collected via a “Religiosity Inventory”, developed by
Kula, and “Subjective Well-Being Scale”, developed by Dost, to determine
participants’ religiosity and subjective well-being as well as a personal
information form to determine demographic characteristics. Statistical analysis
of the data showed significant differences and relationships between
demographic variables, religiosity, and subjective well-being. Moreover, a
statistically significant relationship between the levels of religiousness and
subjective well-being of the participants was found and that religiosity
accounts for 31.9% of subjective well-being variance. The findings of the study
show that the major hypotheses and sub-hypotheses have statistically been
validated and that religiosity is a significant and important predictor of
subjective well-being.

Summary: Throughout history, existential questions and
the answers sought for these questions have remained important for human
beings. Human beings have always wondered about life, meaning of life, death,
after death and pursued meaning systems that will satisfy this curiosity. While
various thinkers and philosophers put forward opinions about the secrets of
life; religion has presented the transcendent dimension to the individual as a
source of meaning. Thus, the individual has found the definitive answer to many
of his questions about existence in religion, and this sense of certainty has
contributed positively to his psychological well-being.

However, human beings may also face disasters, diseases or adversities in
the natural flow of life and sometimes unexpectedly, such situations make them
desperate. Desperation creates a feeling of loneliness in the person and this
can trigger a sense of meaninglessness for him. The feeling of vacuum in the
inner world of the individual who struggles with difficulty or the sense of
meaninglessness somehow affects his subjective well-being.

From this perspective the subject of the study is the effect of
religiosity levels on subjective well-being of individuals who are struggling
with chronic renal failure and have experienced a compelling treatment process
such as hemodialysis. The aim of this study is to determine the level of
religiosity and subjective well-being of these patients. The sample of the
study consists of 205 individuals who were determined by stratified random
sampling method from the patients treated in Turkish Ministry of Health, Hitit
University Çorum Erol Olçok Training and Research Hospital and Çorum District
Dialysis Units.

The major hypothesis of the study is “The religiosity levels of
hemodialysis patients have a significant effect on their subjective
well-being.” Further sub-hypotheses are as follows:

1. Women’s religiosity is higher than men’s.

2. There is a significant relationship between the perception of
subjective happiness and religiosity levels of the participants.  The subjective happiness perception levels of
the individuals with high religiosity scores are also high.

3. There is no significant difference between the SWB levels of the
participants according to gender variable.

4. There is a significant relationship between the perception of
subjective religiosity and SWB levels of participants. According to this;
subjective well-being increases as the person’s self-religious perception
levels increase.

5. There is a significant positive relationship between the religiosity
scores of the participants and SWB scores.

6. Religiosity is a significant predictor of subjective well-being. Thus;
the SWB level is expected to increase as the religiosity scores increase.

The data of the study was obtained by using Personal Information Form
prepared by the researcher, Kula’s Religiosity Inventory and Dost’s Subjective
Well-Being Scale. The study was conducted in hospitals. After getting
the necessary legal permissions and consent of the patients, the patients were
informed about the study and the study was conducted on a voluntary basis.  The questionnaires were applied by the
researcher in person through face-to-face interviews with patients in
hospitals, sometimes on weekdays and sometimes on Saturdays. Together with the
physician of the hemodialysis unit, district hospitals were visited to reach
the target group receiving treatment in these districts.

In accordance with the relational screening model, the data of the study
was analyzed with SPSS 16.0 package program. The mean (x̄) and standard
deviation (ss) scores of the Religiosity Inventory and Subjective Well-Being
Scale were calculated according to independent variables and tables were
created. The significance of the difference between the two means obtained from
two independent sample groups was determined by independent samples t-test for
independent samples. One-way Varayns analysis (ANOVA) was used to test
hypotheses about whether there was a difference between the means of more than
two sample groups. In case of significant differences between means, LSD test
and Tamhane’s T2 test  from post-hoc
multiple comparison tests were usedand the direction of the differences were
determined as such. To determine the relationship between two continuous
variables, religiosity and subjective well-being, Pearson Moments Correlation
Analysis technique was used, and Simple Linear Regression analysis was
performed to determine how much religiosity explains the changes observed in the
dependent variable. The significance of the obtained statistics was tested at
0.05 level and bidirectional and the analysis values were presented in
sequential tables in accordance with the purpose of the research. It is
possible to summarize the findings of the study as follows:

•                 45.9% (n=94) of
the sample are women and 54.1% (n=111) are men. According to subjective
evaluations, 55.6% of the sample considers themselves as happy and very happy
and 79.5% defines themselves as religious and very religious. According to the
findings, subjective religiosity perception is higher in patients than
subjective happiness perception.

•                 The sample group
has a high level of religiosity ( x̄ =4,3713).

•                 There is a
significant difference between gender and general religiosity (t=2,933; p=,004;
p<0.05). Accordingly, women’s scores (x̄=4,4766) are higher than men’s (x̄=
4,2822).

•                 Significant
differences have been found between the subjective happiness perception of the
participants and the mean scores of general religiosity (F=3,458; p=,017,
p<0.05). Differences are among the groups that consider themselves “happy”
(x̄=4,4466) and “very happy” (x̄=4,5529) and the groups that regard themselves
as “a little happy” (x̄=4,2644).

•                 The sample group
has above-average ( x̄ =3,7673) SWB level.

•                 There is no
statistically significant difference between gender and SWB (t=1,230; p=,220;
p>0.05). However there is a difference in the SWB averages of male and
female participants,  women scored higher
(x̄=3,8309) in SWB than men (x̄=3,7135).

•                 A significant
relationship has been found between subjective religiosity perception and SWB
level of the sample (F=12,345; p=,000, p<0.05). SWB levels increased with
increasing subjective religiosity. Further, there is a significant relationship
between “slightly religious” (x̄=3,3439), “religious” (x̄=3,7737) and “very
religious” (x̄=4,1363)  groups and SWB
level. There is also a steady increase in the mean scores of SWB from “not at
all religious” to “very religious”. 

•                 A positive and
moderately significant relationship has been found between general religiosity
and general SWB  (r=,565, p<0.01).

•                 According to the
results of regression analysis to determine whether total religiosity in HD
patients is a significant predictor of subjective well-being; religiosity
explaines 31.9% of the variance in subjective well-being. This result shows
that one of the important determinants of SWB in HD patients is religiousness.
Religiosity is a significant and important predictor of subjective well-being, and
increased religiosity directly affects the SWB levels of HD patients. In
addition, the basic hypothesis and sub-hypotheses were validated statistically
at the end of the study.