Examining the relationship between religious involvement and psychological health, loneliness, and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic among community dwelling older adults living in Ireland

During the COVID-19 pandemic and first lockdown in Ireland, public health restrictions created a barrier to in person religious participation. The aim of this paper is to understand the effect this had on psychological health. Data were from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA). The final sample was made up of 3044 adults living in Ireland aged 60 years and older. Relationships between religious participation and psychological health were modelled using longitudinal regression analyses. Loneliness increased between Wave 5 and COVID-19 relative to Prayer [OR = .06, 95% CI = .10, .02, p < .01] while Mental Health increased between Wave 5 and COVID-19 relative to Religious Attendance [OR = 1.15, 95% CI = 1.00, 1.32, p < .05]. Results show that religious participation had some effect on mental health and loneliness. Future research should focus on measuring the relationship at later stages of the pandemic and the use of alternative forms of religious practice.