Journal of Religion and Health最新文献

For almost three years, the COVID-19 pandemic seriously affected society. Mass gatherings were restricted during the surge, including religious activities and other public practices. However, some Filipinos opted to continue their panata (sacred vow) of self-flagellation during this health crisis, thus putting themselves at risk of being inflicted with the virus or being a spreader. This article explores the experience of selected flagellants who continued to fulfill their religious practice amid the pandemic. It draws inspiration from their narratives about their personal experiences of how they faced, struggled, and hoped to battle the “unseen” virus and the criticisms of others for what they did. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), their interview transcripts elicit three recurrent themes: Suffering leads to finding God for support, sacred vow as unity to Christ’s suffering, and spiritual reward over physical pain. These themes can contribute to future research on how opposing parties should negotiate when faith and health conflict.

The ethics in Catholic hospitals are guided by the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, which provide direction on many topics, including family planning. Previous research has demonstrated there is variability in the availability of prohibited family planning services at Catholic hospitals. This study aims to research a potential source of variability in interpretation and application of the directives through interviewing ethics committee members. Participants were recruited from two different hospitals on the east coast with a total sample size of eight. Ethics committee members were asked questions regarding their personal approach to ethics, their hospital’s approach to ethics, and the permissibility of specific family planning methods at their hospital. Most ethics committee members stated that the Catholic faith and/or directives were important in their hospitals’ approach to ethics. Most participants stated that they had instances in which their personal approach to ethics conflicted with their hospital’s approach, citing women’s health and end-of-life care as common causes of conflict. All but one ethics committee member stated that hormonal contraception was forbidden under the directives; however, many members stated that this was either a gray area or permissible under certain circumstances. Reproductive health issues rarely came before the ethics committee at either site with one participant referring to them as “black and white issues.” This research suggests that ethics committee members did not see the directives governing family planning services to be ambiguous. However, given the low frequency in which these issues come to the attention of the ethics committee, it is difficult to determine whether the opinions expressed by our participants contribute to the variability between Catholic hospitals when it comes to reproductive healthcare provision. An interesting topic for future research would be interviewing executives at Catholic hospitals to determine where this variability arises.

This study examined the psychometric properties of the Korean version of the Brief Religious Coping Scale (RCOPE) among Korean Protestant Christians to determine its reliability and validity in South Korea considering the unique characteristics of Korean Protestant Christianity. Exploratory Factor Analysis (n = 251) and confirmatory factor analysis (n = 268) identified the original two-factor structure of the positive and negative religious coping subscales. Also, the scale exhibited robust reliability and construct validity. This study affirmed the scale is a valid and reliable instrument for measuring religious coping in Korean Christian adults.

We explored longitudinal associations between religion/spirituality (R/S) Salience and R/S Attendance, and colorectal cancer screening, among adults aged ≥ 50 years in Alberta, Canada. R/S Salience was not statistically significantly associated with colorectal cancer screening (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 1.06, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.88–1.28). Conversely, R/S Attendance was statistically significantly associated with higher odds of colorectal cancer screening: the aOR was 1.28 (95% CI 1.02–1.59) for participants attending services at least once a month and 1.31 (95% CI 1.01–1.69) for participants attending between one and four times yearly, compared to participants who never attended. Researchers should explore the possibility of delivering colorectal cancer screening programs in R/S settings.

Anxiety is one of the common psychological problems among infertile women, which affects their quality of life. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of self-compassion intervention based on a religious and non-religious perspective regarding the anxiety and quality of life of infertile women. A randomized clinical trial design with experimental and control groups was used. A total of 78 infertile women who lived in Yazd province, Iran, were referred to Yazd reproductive sciences institute, were selected by available sampling and randomly assigned to two experimental and one control groups. The participants of the first experimental group received eight sessions of self-compassion-focused intervention based on religious instructions. The second experimental group received eight sessions of non-religious self-compassion intervention, while the control group was put on the waiting list. Data were collected using Quality of Life in Infertile Couples Questionnaire (QOLICQ) and Beck anxiety inventory (BDI) in the pretest, posttest and 2-month follow-up phases and then analyzed using repeated measures as well as one-way analysis of variance. The results showed as compared to control group at the posttest and follow-up phases, the quality of life (p < 0.001) and anxiety (p < 0.001) of infertile women increased and decreased, respectively, across both experimental groups. Comparison of experimental groups showed that although the difference between the two groups in the subscales of social relationships and sexual satisfaction was not significant, the gain scores of quality of life and anxiety were significantly greater in the first experimental group. These findings indicate that given the religious background of infertile women, religious self-compassion intervention can be relatively more effective in improving the quality of life and anxiety of infertile women than non-religious intervention.

The importance of religiousness in idiopathic Parkinson's disease (IPD) has been the subject of conflicting research. The impact of religiousness on quality of life and depressive symptoms has also been poorly studied in this population. This study investigated the correlation between religiousness and quality of life in patients with IPD. We evaluated 37 patients with IPD (according to the criteria of the Movement Disorders Society) who were from an outpatient clinic specializing in movement disorders in Brazil. We assessed the patients using the Duke University Religion Index and scales for motor impairment, cognition, quality of life, and depression. Spearman’s test was used to check for possible correlations between the different dimensions of religiousness and the clinical variables analyzed. Patients with a worse quality of life and more depressive symptoms showed greater intrinsic religiousness.

This study was conducted to determine the relationship between preparedness for caregiving and spiritual well-being in the carers of stroke patients. This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted with 130 primary carers of patients hospitalized with the diagnosis of stroke at the neurology clinic of a hospital. It was determined that the participants had moderate levels of preparedness for caregiving, they had high levels of spiritual well-being, and there was a positive significant relationship between these two variables. According to the regression analysis results, the spiritual well-being level of the participants was a predictor of their preparedness for caregiving (B: 0.144, p < 0.001). The results of this study demonstrated that the spiritual well-being of the carers of stroke patients is important in increasing preparedness for caregiving. In this context, to ensure that the carers of all stroke patients feel prepared for the caregiving process, it is recommended to evaluate their preparedness levels, support them in their preparation for their caregiving roles, and identify their spiritual needs.