Article Effects of religious and spiritual variables on outcomes in violent relationships David Katerndahl, Sandra Burge, Robert Ferrer, Johanna Becho, and Robert Wood Abstract Objective: Religious and spiritual factors in intimate partner violence have received increasing attention. But are such factors related to outcomes in violent relation- ships? The purpose of this study was to assess the relative impact of spiritual symp- toms and religious coping on attitudinal/behavioral and clinical outcomes among women in violent relationships. Methods: Adult women with a recent history of husband-to-wife physical abuse were recruited from six primary care clinics. Once enrolled, 200 subjects completed a baseline interview and daily assessment of level of violence, using the Interactive Verbal Response for 12 weeks. At the completion of the study, contact with each participant was attempted to determine whether she had either sought professional help or left the relationship. Three religious/spiritual variables were assessed at base- line—number of visits to a religious/spiritual counselor, religious coping, and severity of spiritual symptoms. Stepped multiple linear regression was used to explain factor- analyzed outcomes (coping and appraisals, hope and support, symptomatology, functional status, readiness for change, and medical utilization), adjusting for demo- graphic, marital, childhood, mental health, and violence variables. Results: After controlling for duration, severity and dynamics of violence, the use of spiritual resources, and the level of spiritual symptoms were associated with most attitudinal/behavioral and clinical outcomes, while religious coping was only asso- ciated with staying in the relationship. Family & Community Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX, USA Corresponding author: David Katerndahl, Family & Community Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, 7703 Floyd Curl Drive, San Antonio, TX 78229-3900, USA. Email: katerndahl@uthscsa.edu The International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine 2015, Vol. 49(4) 249–263 ß The Author(s) 2015 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0091217415589297 ijp.sagepub.com