Use of Prayer by Parents in Pediatric Emergency Department Patients

Abstract

Mind–body interventions, one of the major categories of complementaryandalternativemedicine (CAM), includepractices that are based on thehumanmind but that have an effect on the human body and physical health, such as meditation, prayer, and mental healing.1 Prayer means “begging to Allah, calling someone, sending something somewhere.” Prayer is the human heart’s conversation with Allah and seeking his blessing and help. Prayer is the servant reaching the level of addressing his Lord in the face of an extraordinary event. Ubudiyyet means “serving, slavery, excessive devotion to someone.” Worship is an endless way of speaking from man to Allah. Salah (namaz) is a form of worship inwhich a person establishes a direct relationshipwithAllah. Amanwas created to worship Allah.2 Herein, we present our observations about the use of prayer by parents of ill children to attract the attention of health caregivers to parents’ spiritual needs. In previous research, Losier et al3 found that approximately 13% of caregivers reported using CAM for their child in the pediatric emergency department. The most common CAM therapies used were homeopathy (20%), prayer/spiritual approaches (19.7%), and massage therapy (16.7%).3 Sawni et al4 reported that the use of CAM was 15% and the most common types of CAM therapies used were folk remedies/home remedies (59%), herbs (41%), prayer healing (14%), and massage therapy (10%). In another series, 48.8% of the patients had received at least one alternative therapy among pediatric emergency department patients. The most common were massage (16%), chiropractic therapy (9.8%), relaxation (7.2%), meditation (6.2%), aromatherapy (6.1%), and spiritual healing (4.3%).5 In our country, parents commonly use CAM including prayer for their children’s health. Top et al6 reported that 97.7% of parents of ill children had used at least one CAMmethod for mostly respiratory complaints, and 17.5%mothers used prayer. In another study, 77.2% ofmothers of children with developmental disabilities reported using at least oneCAMtreatment, and32.9%mothers usedprayer.7 In a study from Özyazicioğlu et al,8 42.29% of mothers reported using one ormore CAM therapies for their childwith a chronic disease, use of prayer was in 17.24%. In our clinical practice, wehave observed thatmost parents use CAM treatments, and the most commonly used CAM treatments are prayer by parents and/or by hodja, herbal medicine, and massage. Most parents of ill children pray to Allah for their children’s health; however,manyparents donot openly pray at their children’s bedside because they hesitate the reactionofhealth careprofessionals. Second,most families believe that results were the best when both prayer and conventional medicine were integrated. The prayed parents found spiritual peace and comfort because they believe the following spiritual/religious teachings. It is established by the people of reality that the illnesses of innocent children are like training for their delicate bodies, and injections and Dominical training allow them to withstand in the future the upheavals of theworld that is in addition tomany instances of wisdom pertaining to the child’s worldly life; instead of the atonement for sins in adultswhich looks to spiritual life and is the means to purifying life, illnesses are like injections ensuring the child’s spiritual progress in the future or hereafter, and themerits accruing fromsuch illnessespass to thebookofgood works of the parents, particularly of the mother who through themysteryofcompassionprefers thehealthofherchild toher own health.9 In conclusion,wewould like toemphasizethatprayer isvery important for many parents of ill children in many societies in the world; therefore, we believe that health caregivers should support parents spiritually.