Health locus of control, religious attitude and spirituality in older adults

Objective: to assess the relationship of health locus of control with religious attitude and spirituality in a group of Mexican elders. Materials and methods: cross-sectional correlational study in a sample of 101 older adults from government social assistance centers in Mexico. To evaluate the study variables, the Locus of Control in Health Scale, the Spirituality Index and the Religious Attitude Scale were used; in addition to a questionnaire for sociodemographic variables. Data collection was carried out by psychologists after signing the informed consent. Descriptive analyzes were carried out for the study variables and to evaluate the relationship between health locus of control with religious attitude and spirituality, two analyzes were carried out: a Pearson correlation and the odds ratio. Results: the correlation of health locus of control in its dimension powerful others has a low but statistically significant correlation with religious attitude (r = ,278, p<,01) and does not have a correlation with spirituality, thus, a high level of religious attitude makes it more likely that older adults have a powerful others health locus of control at a high level (psi = 2,71, 1,154 - 6,394). Conclusion: as religious attitude has a higher level, health empowerment in Mexican older adults is more likely to be lower.