MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Brick Johnstone, Ph.D., ABPP Professor MU Department of Health Psychology DC116.88 Columbia, MO 65212  Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Dr. Johnstone:  We are interested in identifying the specific religious/spiritual factors associated with health.  In general it is known that positive spirituality is associated with better health, and for a small population, negative spiritual beliefs are associated with worse health.  We wanted to see about such relationships for individuals who had any degree of negative spirituality (i.e., belief they were being punished, abandoned). The main finding is that even a minor degree of negative spiritual beliefs is associated with worse health. (more…)