Spirituality and health: an exploratory study of hospital patients' perspectives

2010 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julieanne Hilbers ◽  
Abby S. Haynes ◽  
Jennifer G. Kivikko

The relationship between spirituality/religion and health is receiving increasing academic interest, but few studies have explored the experience of Australians. This paper presents data from an exploratory survey of patients and families in a public teaching hospital in Sydney. The findings show that the majority of hospital service users: •believe there are links between spirituality/religion and health; •believe that rituals and customs can help people when they are sick/suffering; •have valued practices associated with their beliefs; •feel it is helpful for health staff to know their patients’ beliefs; •are willing to be asked about their beliefs; or •want hospital staff to respect and support the beliefs and practices of all patients. Spirituality and religion, and the beliefs and practices associated with them, were found to be eclectic, individualised and evolving in response to life events such as loss and health crises. This paper concludes that a person-centred framework of health practice includes attention to the religious/spiritual dimension of patients and their families. What is known about the topic?There is a rapidly developing body of research that demonstrates an increasing awareness of the important links between religion and health, but is limited in Australian application. What does this paper add?This paper provides contextually relevant qualitative and quantitative data on patient perspectives, including how patients wish to be treated by health staff in relation to their beliefs and practices. The Australian perspective also provides a valuable counterpoint to US-dominated research in the global community. What are the implications for practitioners?The research findings indicate that practitioners need to recognise and respond to the role of religious and spiritual beliefs and practices in patients’ health journeys. The discussion suggests some practical ways of doing this which sit comfortably within the patient-centred approach.

Author(s):  
Monique Frances Crane ◽  
Sue Brouwers ◽  
Mark William Wiggins ◽  
Thomas Loveday ◽  
Kirsty Forrest ◽  
...  

Objective: This research examined whether negative and positive arousal emotions modify the relationship between experience level and cue utilization among anesthetists. Background: The capacity of a practitioner to form precise associations between clusters of features (e.g., symptoms) and events (e.g., diagnosis) and then act on them is known as cue utilization. A common assumption is that practice experience allows opportunities for cue acquisition and cue utilization. However, this relationship is often not borne out in research findings. This study investigates the role of emotional state in this relationship. Method: An online tool (EXPERTise 2.0) was used to assess practitioner cue utilization for tasks relevant to anesthesia. The experience of positive and negative arousal emotions in the previous three days was measured, and emotion clusters were generated. Experience was measured as the composite of practice years and hours of practice experience. The moderating role of emotion on the relationship between experience and cue utilization was examined. Results: Data on 125 anesthetists (36% female) were included in the analysis. The predicted interaction between arousal emotions and the experience level emerged. In particular, post hoc analyses revealed that anxiety-related emotions facilitated the likelihood of high cue utilization in less experienced practitioners. Conclusion: The findings suggest a role for emotions in cue use and suggest a functional role for normal range anxiety emotions in a simulated work-relevant task. Application: This research illustrates the importance of understanding the potentially functional effects common negative arousal emotions may have on clinical performance, particularly for those with less experience.


2017 ◽  
Vol 71 (4) ◽  
pp. 318-333
Author(s):  
Hetty Zock

Summary This contribution considers the functionality of religious beliefs and practices from the angle of the psychology of religion. The role of religion in the main standard for mental health (Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) is discussed and research findings about the relation between religion and mental health are summarized. It is argued that to determine if a specific religious belief or practice is healthy or unhealthy, we need a fundamentally contextual approach, which takes into account not only the cultural and religious context but also the life-history and personal stance (normativity) of religious authorities, care professionals, patients and believers. The case of depression serves as an example.


1998 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 148-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel Paris

Objective: To examine the relationship between trauma in childhood and personality disorders in adulthood. Method: A review of the literature was conducted. Results: The reported associations between trauma and personality pathology are illuminated by the following research findings: 1) personality is heritable; 2) only a minority of patients with severe personality disorders report childhood trauma; and 3) children are generally resilient, and traumatic experiences do not consistently lead to psychopathology. Conclusions: The role of trauma in the personality disorders is best understood in the context of gene–environment interactions.


2018 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 247-262
Author(s):  
Steven L Foy ◽  
Collin W Mueller

Scholars have increasingly noted mechanisms by which religion may be detrimental to one’s health, but few have explored how individuals understand linkages between religious involvement and adverse health. Using data gathered from telephone interviews with Protestants and Catholics in North Carolina and South Carolina, we explore how individuals understand the role of religious moral failure in shaping health consequences. When asked to discuss the relationship between religion and health, 23 respondents described experiences or beliefs regarding how failing to meet the expectations of their religion corresponded with a range of reduced mental and physical health outcomes. Findings underscore the need for additional research on the role of religious involvement and life course experiences in shaping expectations that health declines result from moral failure.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 444-455
Author(s):  
Carlos Ramos-Galarza ◽  
Pamela Acosta-Rodas ◽  
Mónica Bolaños-Pasquel ◽  
Nancy Lepe-Martínez

Purpose The purpose of this paper is fourfold: first, to analyse the relationship between executive functions and academic performance; second, to identify the level of prediction executive functions have on academic performance; third, to determine the correlation between executive functions and academic performance; and fourth, to compare executive functions based on the level of academic performance. Design/methodology/approach The sample composed of 175 university students aged between 18 and 36 years (M=21.49, SD=3.22). The EFECO scale, the average student grade and a scale based on the diagnostic criteria for ADHD were used as measurement instruments. Findings Difficulties in executive functions: Difficulties in working memory (r=−0.30, p=<0.01) and difficulties in conscious supervision of behaviour (r=−0.29, p⩽0.01) have an inversely proportional relationship to academic performance (the greater the deficit of executive functions, the lower the academic performance). The regression analysis showed that executive functions explain 31 per cent of the variance of academic performance (χ2(25)=43.81, p <0.001). The study found that there is a relationship between all the executive functions and students’ behaviour in a medium to large magnitude. Research limitations/implications A limitation of this study was the size of the sample as it is not representative of the country. Nevertheless, the correlation among the variables studied here has the necessary magnitude for the proposed correlations to be found. Nonetheless, it is necessary that we perform a study with a larger number of participants in order to achieve adequate extrapolation of the results. Practical implications Data found in this study suggest that low academic performance of university students is related to a lower functionality of their executive functions. Originality/value The originality of the research lies in relating specific concepts of neuropsychology to explain the academic performance of university students. The research findings allow us to project new studies to improve the executive functions for the benefit of the university student.


Author(s):  
Gary E. Schwartz

Substantial research documents a positive association between religious practice and improved health and well-being. Research on the relationship between spirituality and health is less developed but also positive. Generally speaking, Western science and medicine explain these positive associations via psychological and social mechanisms rather than spiritual (or “metaphysical”) ones. However, contemporary theory and research in consciousness science, including research on near-death experiences and life after death, are pointing to a profound paradigm change in science, shifting from conventional materialist models of nature and the cosmos to postmaterialist models. This chapter introduces the reader to the emerging postmaterialist paradigm in science and considers some of its important implications for understanding and applying spirituality in integrative preventive medicine.


Author(s):  
Don C. Postema

Understanding the role of ethics committees in providing ethics consultations, ethics education, and ethics-related policies is the context for exploring the relationship of ethics, psychiatry, and religious and spiritual beliefs. After a brief history of biomedical ethics in the United States since the mid-20th century, this chapter presents several case studies that exemplify frequently encountered tensions in these relationships. The central contention is that respecting these beliefs is not equivalent to acquiescing to ethical claims based on them. Rigorous critical reflection and psychiatric insight, coupled with the values embedded in the social practices of healthcare, provide the grounds for evaluating the weight and bearing of religious and spiritual beliefs in ethically complex cases. This is one contribution that ethics committees can make at the intersection of psychiatry and religion.


2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (12) ◽  
pp. 1819-1840 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sampo Tukiainen ◽  
Nina Granqvist

The relationship between the temporary and the permanent is a central issue in studies of temporary organizing. Recent research highlights that projects, as key forms of temporary organizations, both constitute and are constituted by their wider institutional contexts. However, there is still a lack of more detailed understanding of the actors and their activities through which projects produce and advance institutional change. To address this issue, we draw on extensive fieldwork to study the activities that constitute establishment of the Innovation University. This endeavour gained the status of a spearhead project and advanced nationwide university reform in one northern European country. Our central contribution is two-fold. We sediment a more robust approach to institutions within project literature by defining them as widely shared beliefs and practices that actors enact and (re)produce through their various activities. On this basis, we develop a model of an institutional project for regulative change and show that it is more parallel and multiplex and less sequential in nature than existing studies might convey. Our model also creates new understanding of the role of the ‘lock-ins’ shaped by projects to promote regulative change and casts light on the temporal linkages and temporal boundary objects in institutional projects. In closing, we discuss several future avenues for research in both project literature and institutional theory.


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Armour ◽  
Jennie Helmer

Introduction Progression in the field of paramedicine has resulted in the development of novel roles within the profession, including the role of advanced paramedics providing teleconsultations for frontline paramedics. Little is known about the experience of paramedics providing or receiving teleconsultations. This scoping review aimed to investigate paramedic perceptions of physician and paramedic-delivered teleconsultations. Methods A scoping review of MEDLINE, CINAHL and EBM Reviews as well as paramedic-specific journals and the grey literature was conducted. Articles were included if they examined advanced paramedics, paramedics, emergency ambulance crew or emergency medical technicians receiving teleconsultations, or physicians and advanced paramedics providing teleconsultations. Results A total of 7461 unique citations were identified. Two citations were ultimately included in the review. One study examined the delivery of teleconsultations by advanced paramedics and one by physicians, both from the perspective of paramedics. Paramedics delivering teleconsultations generally considered the experience to be positive, while those receiving paramedic-delivered teleconsultations felt the level of advice was appropriate and assisted in expanding their own knowledge base. Paramedics receiving physician-delivered teleconsultations reported variable understanding of the unique challenges of out-of-hospital care and tension in the relationship between paramedics and physicians. Conclusion Little literature was identified examining the perceptions of paramedics delivering or receiving physician-delivered or paramedic-delivered teleconsultations. Given the continuing expansion of teleconsultation programs for out-of-hospital staff, this represents a significantly understudied area.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-53
Author(s):  
Muchammad Ismail Hamzah ◽  
Endi Sarwoko

This research aims to analyze the direct relationship between leadership, organizational culture on performance, and to analyze the indirect relationship that is mediated by work motivation. The study used a quantitative approach, namely explanatory research, using a sample of 110 research that were taken randomly from certified teachers at junior high schools in Malang Regency. The data were collected using a questionnaire with a 5 point Likert scale, while the data analysis technique used Path Analysis. The research findings showed that performance was influenced by leadership and work motivation, but the leadership was not proven to affect work motivation. Another research finding is that organizational culture does not significantly contribute to performance, but contributes to work motivation, work motivation only mediates the relationship between organizational culture and performance. The research implication is that to improve performance, effective leadership and work motivation are needed, further increasing work motivation can be achieved from strengthening organizational culture. The next researcher is suggested to test the role of leadership on organizational culture.


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