Please read the article by Paul Mueller and colleagues. As you read, think about how your own religious or spiritual beliefs (even if these are not formalized or associated with an organized religious community) have influenced your sense of yourself, generally, and of your health and well being in particular. How have you seen religious or spiritual beliefs among patients affect their experiences of illness and their relationships with their health care providers? How can you leverage the insights in this article to providing better, more humanistic, care to your own patients.

Please read the case study and commentary by April Christiansen and colleagues. Just as patients have religious or spiritual beliefs, so do their physicians, nurses, and other healthcare providers. You know from the first article in this lesson that it is important to recognize a patient's religious or spiritual beliefs and that doing so can improve their care. But this also potentially creates very personal ethical dilemmas for clinical practitioners. After reading the case, first think about how you would navigate the situation. Then, read the commentary and compare your insights to those of the authors.

If you choose, please read the article by Harold Koenig, which gives an in depth review of the relationship of religion/spirituality and health, with a particular focus on how these insights can inform clinical practice.