What is it about?

This article explains how adults in Santander, Colombia, used different coping strategies after the COVID-19 crisis. Using survey data from more than 5,500 participants, the study identifies four coping profiles and shows that religious practices were important for many people, but not in the same way for everyone. In some profiles, faith appeared together with problem-solving, positive thinking, and social support; in others, people relied more on emotional restraint, avoidance, or self-sufficiency.

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Why is it important?

The study is important because it shows that religious coping is not a single or isolated response to crisis. In Colombia, faith can form part of broader coping patterns that also include emotional regulation, practical action, and social support. This can help researchers, mental-health professionals, and community organizations design more culturally sensitive responses to public health crises. The findings should be interpreted cautiously because the sample comes from one Colombian region and the study is cross-sectional.

Perspectives

I see this article as a contribution to understanding how people make sense of crisis in culturally specific ways. In Colombia, faith is not only a private belief system; for many people, it is connected to family, community, meaning, and emotional support. I hope readers see that mental-health responses after collective crises need to recognize the diversity of coping strategies people actually use, including religious and non-religious forms of support. Also, this article challenging me to implement the multigroup SEM a new skill in my academy life.

Mr Leonardo Hernan Talero-Sarmiento
Universidad Autonoma de Bucaramanga

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Coping with the COVID-19 Crisis Through Faith-Based Strategies: A Multiple-Group Confirmatory Factor Analysis in Colombia, Journal of Religion and Health, February 2026, Springer Science + Business Media,
DOI: 10.1007/s10943-025-02538-6.
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