Indirect relationship between religious well-being and emotional well-being through gratitude among Polish patients with chronic pain: Two-wave longitudinal study.

Research results suggest the importance of the religious-spiritual sphere of life in managing chronic pain.It is essential to explore how religious chronic pain patients can enhance their well-being by referencing their bond with God as a source of support, coping, relief, and hope.This longitudinal study proposes a mechanism through which religious well-being can increase gratitude, which in turn positively predicts positive affect and negatively predicts negative affect.In the two-wave longitudinal study, 58 chronic pain patients from Poland participated with persisting pain for more than 3 months despite implementing medical treatment.It was found that religious well-being is indirectly related to positive and negative affect through gratitude.Religious well-being positively predicted grateful disposition, which, in turn, was positively related to positive affect and negatively related to negative affect.Based on the Broaden-and-Build Theory, the obtained results confirmed the beneficial role of religious well-being in shaping and maintaining gratefulness as a factor that may promote the occurrence of positive affect and buffer negative affect.Practical implications were discussed, emphasizing the role of counselors, caregivers, psychotherapists, doctors, and priests in fostering gratitude in patients with chronic pain and supporting those who do not believe in seeking secular sources of grateful attitudes.