From January to April 2022 we ran an online questionnaire across southeastern Poland (Podkarpacie, Lesser Poland) and western Ukraine (Lviv region). A convenience sample of 1458 students and adults answered 16 items on religiosity, attitudes toward physical culture, and self-rated health (Likert 1–5 where relevant).
Patterns, not sermons
The health component rated highest was physical health among believers and mental health among non-believers. Analysis of variance showed significant differences across variables depending on declaration of faith in God. Faith in these borderlands often tied to regular practice — yet irregular practice still dominated. Respondents who combined stronger faith/practice ratings with self-rated health showed a statistical pattern: more religious respondents had lower self-rated health on average.
What this is not
This is a cross-sectional survey in a specific region and wartime-adjacent window — not a verdict on religion, Ukraine, Poland or anyone’s clinic chart. Causality is not claimed. Physical-culture attitudes sat in the same instrument; treat associations as hypotheses for educators and public-health teams who already work locally.
Why it sits in an ORCID series
Combat-sport biomechanics is only one strand of the lab’s work. Culture, meaning and self-rated health shape who shows up to train and how they interpret pain. Mapping that terrain honestly belongs next to force-plate papers.
The instrument mixed single-choice religiosity items with Likert ratings of self-esteem and physical-culture attitudes. Statistica 13.3 handled the ANOVA contrasts by faith declaration. Convenience sampling online in early 2022 captures a wartime-adjacent mood on the Ukrainian side and pandemic aftershocks everywhere — context, not noise to ignore.
Lower average self-rated health among more religious respondents is an association to interpret carefully: health burden may draw people toward practice, or practice communities may differ demographically. The paper does not settle direction. Educators working with PE and pastoral care can still use the pattern to avoid assuming that “faith equals feeling healthy”.
Physical culture attitudes sat beside faith items for a reason: movement meaning and religious meaning often share the same calendar in these regions. Mapping both beats treating either as decoration.
The instrument mixed single-choice religiosity items with Likert ratings of self-esteem and physical-culture attitudes. Statistica 13.3 handled the ANOVA contrasts by faith declaration. Convenience sampling online in early 2022 captures a wartime-adjacent mood on the Ukrainian side and pandemic aftershocks everywhere — context, not noise to ignore.
Lower average self-rated health among more religious respondents is an association to interpret carefully: health burden may draw people toward practice, or practice communities may differ demographically. The paper does not settle direction. Educators working with PE and pastoral care can still use the pattern to avoid assuming that “faith equals feeling healthy”.
Physical culture attitudes sat beside faith items for a reason: movement meaning and religious meaning often share the same calendar in these regions. Mapping both beats treating either as decoration.
Where this sits in the lab
Biokineticum’s public notes exist so practitioners can reach the DOI without drowning in jargon — and so athletes, teachers and clinicians see that combat-sport science also publishes on prisons, faith, fair play, sauna physiology and disability policy. Soft topics still deserve hard methods: sample sizes, instruments, effect directions and explicit limits.
If you teach, treat or coach from these findings, copy the reference list into your syllabus, open the full text, and write down what you will measure next week. That is the only CTA that always fits.
Reading notes
Psychosocial and public-health papers describe associations in defined samples — not moral verdicts about individuals. We keep the language descriptive, avoid stigma, and point you to the DOI for methods and limits.
If the topic touches your clinic, classroom or programme design, treat this post as a map to the paper, not a substitute for it.
References
- Cynarski WJ, Dyndał S, Wąsik J, Mosler D, Pavlova I, Yu JH, Ambroży T, Kasicki K. The Relationship of the Religious Faith and Practice of Student Youth and Adults in Southeastern Poland and Western Ukraine with Their Health Status and Attitudes toward Physical Culture. Religions. 2024. 15(7):756. doi:10.3390/rel15070756
Measurement-led biomechanics, health psychology and clinical tools at Biokineticum.
