Association between religiosity/spirituality and substance use among homeless individuals

Background: Alcohol and illicit drug use are prevalent among homeless people. Religiosity and spirituality (RS) have been widely associated with lower consumption of substances. However, evidence of this relationship among homeless people is still scarce. Aims: To evaluate the associations between RS and alcohol and illicit drug consumption among homeless people in a large Brazilian urban center. Method: This cross-sectional study was carried out in São Paulo city, Brazil. Aspects such as spirituality (FACIT-Sp12), religiosity (DUREL), spiritual-religious coping (Brief-RCOPE), and self-report questions concerning the current substance use (alcohol and illicit substances) were evaluated. Adjusted logistic regression models were used to assess the impact of RS beliefs on alcohol and illicit drug consumption. Results: A total of 456 homeless people were included, of an average age of 44.5 ( SD = 12.6) years. More than half of the participants consumed alcohol (55.7%) weekly and 34.2% used illicit drugs weekly. Adjusted logistic regression models identified that aspects of RS were associated with lower likelihood factors for alcohol and illicit drug use; conversely, negative spiritual religious coping (SRC) strategies were associated with a higher likelihood to use both. Conclusion: The prevalence of alcohol and illicit drug use among participants was high. RS and positive SRC were important protective factors for lower consumption of these substances. Conversely, negative SRC strategies were associated with risk factors.