ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Health Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1498416
The relationship between religious coping with body image concern among patients on hemodialysis: the mediating role of self-care
Provisionally accepted
Hamid Sharif-Nia1
João Marôco2
Erika Sivarajan Froelicher3
Mozhgan Taebi4
Badri Jaafari5
Mozhgan Moshtagh6
Fatemeh Khoshnavay Fomani7
Amir Hossein Goudarzian7*
Omolhoda Kaveh1- 1Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Mazandaran, Iran
- 2ISPA – University Institute, Lisbon, Portugal
- 3School of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States
- 4Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Kerman, Iran
- 5Islamic Azad University, Kazeroon, Kazeroon, Fars, Iran
- 6Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, South Khorasan, Iran
- 7Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Tehran, Iran
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Objective: Exploring the factors that contribute to body image concerns among patients on hemodialysis is imperative. This cross-sectional study investigates whether self-care mediates the relationship between religious coping and body image concerns. Methods: A total of 398 patients completed the Littleton's Body Image Concern Inventory Questionnaire, Assessment of Self-care Behaviors with Arteriovenous Fistula, and Religious Coping Questionnaire between February and May 2023 at a major comprehensive hemodialysis center in Iran. Results: The mean age of patients on hemodialysis was 56.97 (SD = 13.48). The model explained 23.5% of the variation observed in body image concern (R2 = 0.235, p < .001). However, the mediation effect of self-care on body image was not statistically significant (β = 0.13, p = 0.434). In contrast, a mid-sized significant direct effect of religious coping on body image concerns was observed (β = 0.13, p < 0.001). Conclusion: The study contributes to the existing literature on the relationship between religious coping, body image concern, and self-care in various populations, such as overweight and obese individuals, high school students, and young females. The findings highlight that religious coping has directl relationship with body image concerns among patients on hemodialysis, while the mediating role of self-care was not supported. These results underscore the need for further research and targeted interventions that consider spiritual coping to improve body image outcomes in this population. Keywords: Body Image, Renal Dialysis, Religious coping, Hemodialysis, Iran
Keywords: body image, Renal Dialysis, Religious coping, hemodialysis, Iran
Received: 18 Sep 2024; Accepted: 07 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Sharif-Nia, Marôco, Sivarajan Froelicher, Taebi, Jaafari, Moshtagh, Khoshnavay Fomani, Goudarzian and Kaveh. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Amir Hossein Goudarzian, amir_sari@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.