Status of spirituality, religiousness and quality of life among pilgrims in India: A cross sectional study

A BSTRACT Background: Quality of life (QOL) is a multidimensional concept. Spirituality/religiousness is one of the coping mechanisms for everyday stressful and adverse situations. The pilgrimage experiences not only improve the acquisition of knowledge and experience; it also affect tourists’ psychological and physical health and improve their QOL. Objectives: The study aims to assess the status of spirituality, religiousness and QOL among pilgrims in India and find out factors associated with QOL among them. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Ayodhya among 293 pilgrims of the Ram Mandir inauguration who fulfilled the inclusion criteria and consented to the study. Status of spirituality and religiousness was assessed by a 20-item Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS) and QOL was assessed by a 26-item WHOQOL-BREF. Data was analyzed using the IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 20 to perform descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: The mean age of the study participants was 45.04 years (±15.87), with the majority of them aged between 31 and 49 years (40.3%). The majority of them were males (56.7%), resided in urban areas (65.5%), were homemakers (36.9%), lived in joint families (55.6%), and belonged to middle-class socioeconomic status (50.2%). A moderate-to-high level of spiritual (57.30%) and religious well-being (46.4%) was found among the study participants. QOL was found to be higher among most of the pilgrims. Younger age, higher level of education, absence of diseases, and higher spiritual, religious, and existential well-being were found to be significantly associated ( P < 0.05) with better QOL. Conclusion: The study found a positive association between higher levels of spirituality and religiousness and improved QOL among pilgrims. To enhance overall health and QOL, it is essential to implement effective strategies promoting spiritual health and addressing related challenges.