Journal of Religion & Health最新文献

This study examines how Black and White Americans perceive two facets of trust (trust in medical doctor and trust in medical care for racial group) and two facets of religiosity (religious service attendance and religious norms regarding organ donation) in relation to the topic of organ donation. Two hundred and one participants (N = 201) were surveyed across the United States using the Qualtrics survey company. Bivariate analyses found donor status was not related to religious service attendance (r = - .001, p > .05) or religious norms (r = .09, p > .05). Donor status was significantly related to trust in doctors, (r = - .25, p < .001) and trust in medical care for racial group, r = - .239, p < .001). Independent samples t-tests revealed Black Americans had significantly lower levels of trust in medical care for racial group than White Americans (t = - 5.14, p < .001) but did not differ in levels of trust in doctor (t = - 1.73, p > .05). The implications of these findings for future research and campaigns are discussed.

Luján is considered the religious heart of Argentina, attracting pilgrims from all over the world. Among the pilgrimages across the world, there is also a Polish pilgrimage organized every year by Polish communities in Buenos Aires for the Polish Argentines. The purpose of this article is to examine the changes in the number of pilgrims, administered sacraments and celebrated masses in Luján from 2019 to 2023. The research shows that after a sharp decline in the number of pilgrims from 5 million in 2019 to 1 million in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a resurgence in pilgrimages, with over 6 million pilgrims worldwide in 2023. The article analyses empirical data collected through in-depth interviews with 25 Argentines of Polish descent (n = 25). Its purpose is to examine how the motives and intentions of these individuals for making a pilgrimage to Luján have changed before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as significance of the pilgrimage for each of them. The research clearly demonstrates that the pandemic has strengthened the faith of Polish pilgrims living in Argentina, who now view pilgrimages to Luján and entrusting their intentions to the Virgin Mary as a personal obligation.

Given a dearth of comprehensive assessments, this study provided a quantitative and scientific analysis of 286 articles on spiritual leadership (SL) published in Scopus-indexed journals. Citation, cluster and co-citation analysis were employed to highlight the key works, sketch the intellectual framework and identify the research gaps. The most influential documents, journals, authors/researchers, countries and universities were also determined using citation analysis. Besides author co-citation and journal co-citation, analysis were also performed to determine the intellectual structure of SL literature, followed by a thorough review of authors' keywords utilizing cluster analysis. Keyword co-occurrence cluster analysis led to the identification of five major clusters/streams: (a) spiritual leadership and well-being; (b) spiritual leadership and other types of leadership; (c) spiritual leadership and creativity; (d) spiritual leadership and employee-level outcomes; (e) spiritual leadership, sustainability and spirituality. Future research directions were suggested within each identified cluster. This study will assist regulators and academic scholars in understanding the nuts and bolts of spiritual leadership and identifying areas that require more research.

Interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) have an impact on patient quality of life at some point. Alternatives such as pulmonary rehabilitation, oxygen supplementation, yoga, and mindfulness practices can help in the care of patients with ILD. The current study was designed to explore the perceptions of gratitude by patients with various ILDs during an MBI. This was a qualitative study involving 50 patients with ILDs. Data were collected through transcription of expressions of gratitude during weekly sessions. A six-phase thematic analysis was used to evaluate the data qualitatively. The results obtained allowed the construction of five thematic categories of gratitude: Religious belief: recognition of the existence of a God being evident in the statements of several patients, who relied on it as a strategy for coping with the disease; the possibility of autonomy: perceived in the importance placed upon being able to perform simple, routine tasks; the presence of family and friends, the assurance of treatment by the health care team and the treatment itself; and the changes achieved through the mindfulness training. Despite the severity and limitations imposed by the disease, the participants were able to perceive the importance and meaning of the presence of family and friends, spirituality, the medical team, and mindfulness in their lives.

Religiosity is a determinant of human flourishing and a protective/risk factor on health. In recent years the DUREL has been one of the most used measures in studies of religion and health worldwide. This scale has five items to assess three domains: organizational religiosity (item 1), non-organizational religiosity (item 2), and intrinsic/subjective religiosity (items 3, 4 and 5). Through an online survey, we examined the psychometric properties, factor structure and measurement invariance of the Duke University Religion Index among 411 Spanish-speaking Puerto Rican adults. We found alpha and omega reliability coefficients of .91. In confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with robust maximum likelihood estimation, best-fit models were those with three factors. We observed adequate convergent/discriminant validity via CFA-related statistics. Using multigroup CFA, the DUREL was gender-invariant. Correlations with external criteria supported its concurrent validity. Our findings support DUREL's utility as a religiosity measure for Puerto Ricans.

Caregiving challenges of Parkinson's disease can result in loss of faith, meaning, and spiritual distress. The purpose of this study is to describe Parkinson's disease caregivers' perceptions and experiences related to spiritual distress, sources of spiritual and religious support, acts, and experiences of growth, and finding meaning and joy in the midst of spiritual distress. We conducted semi-structured interviews with caregivers of persons with Parkinson's disease (n = 16) and identified five themes: (a) Bearing witness to suffering underlies spiritual distress; (b) Prayers are pleas for "soul help"; (c) Spiritual guidance and support are important; (d) Faith and community are sources of spiritual support; and (e) Joy, meaning, and growth help to transcend spiritual distress. Interventions that target sources of spiritual distress and joy are needed.

This study introduces the spiritual psychological resilience scale (SPRS), a newly developed instrument designed to assess the integration of spiritual beliefs with psychological resilience in the Turkish context. The scale assesses the manner in which individuals draw upon spiritual resources to cope with adversity and maintain psychological well-being. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses identified a three-factor structure. Spiritual coping, spiritual beliefs and spiritual commitment collectively account for 55.01% of the variance. The scale exhibited robust internal consistency across all subscales, with Cronbach's alpha coefficients ranging from 0.785 to 0.854, thereby substantiating its reliability. Furthermore, the scale exhibited a notable negative correlation with spiritual contradiction, thereby substantiating its criterion validity. The SPRS provides a comprehensive instrument for evaluating spiritual and psychological resilience and is applicable to diverse populations. Future research should investigate its utility across different demographic and cultural groups, as well as its relevance to other psychological constructs such as depression and anxiety. This scale has the potential for use in counselling, educational and clinical settings, particularly for populations dealing with trauma and adversity.

This study was aimed at evaluating the knowledge and attitudes of religious officials in Turkey about circumcision. Among the Imams, 96.7% (n = 234) were married, and 91.3% (n = 221) had male children. The place of circumcision was at home in 42.1% (n = 102), and 56.1% (n = 123) of the performers were not licensed physicians. Overall, 59.1% of the Imams believed that circumcision provided protection against HIV, 49.6% believed it reduced the risk of penile cancer, and 69.8% believed that circumcision increased sexual potency. Our research reveals that Imams in Turkey lack knowledge about circumcision.

The study aimed to examine the spiritual care experiences of nurses caring for gynecologic cancer patients. The study was conducted using a phenomenological design, one of the qualitative research methods. Nurses caring for gynecologic cancer patients were included in the study. In sample selection, the criterion sampling method, one of the purposeful sampling methods, was used, and the sample size was ten nurses. A semi-structured interview guide was used to collect the data. Content analysis was performed using the MAXQDA package program. The study was written based on the COREQ checklist. The nurses' statements determined themes, sub-themes, and codes in line with the research findings. Accordingly, four themes were identified as "spiritual care practices," "emotional effects of spiritual care," "factors affecting spiritual care," and "recommendations to improve spiritual care". In line with the findings obtained, it is recommended that in-service training should be provided to nurses caring for gynecologic cancer patients to provide spiritual care at a professional level. Moreover, the excessive workload caused by working conditions should be reduced, and regulations and institutional policies should be established to increase the number of nurses.

Individuals experiencing chronic widespread musculoskeletal pain (CWP) frequently have comorbid depression. The presence of depression and pain-related outcomes in these patients are found to be positively correlated with inability to forgive or let go of interpersonal hurts and maltreatments. So for these patients, the current study aimed to apply a religiously integrated forgiveness intervention and to find out its efficacy in lessening depression and pain. The first part of research consisted of developing a religiously integrated forgiveness intervention by incorporating Islamic principles in Enright's process model of forgiveness. The other half was a randomized-control design where Depression Subscale of Depression Anxiety Stress Scale Urdu version as reported by Zafar (Urdu translations of the DASS, 2014) and Heartland Forgiveness Scale Urdu version (Butt in Interdiscip J Contemp Res Bus 4:769-792, 2012) were applied on a total of 272 adults (122 male and 150 female). After screening, 60 individuals (18 males and 39 females) were selected on the basis of high and low score on depression and forgiveness scales, respectively. Their ages ranged from 26 to 45 years. Selected individuals were randomly assigned to be a part of either treatment or control group. Religiously integrated forgiveness therapy (RIFT) was applied on 30 individuals in comparison to the 30 participants from control group. Results indicated that in comparison with control group, from pretest to posttest participants in forgiveness intervention group scored lower on depression as well as pain and scored higher on forgiveness (p > .001). It was found that the religiously integrated model of forgiveness therapy was efficacious in enhancing forgiveness and in reducing depression among individuals with chronic widespread musculoskeletal pain.