Culture, Religion and Spirituality in Coping

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Culture, Religion and Spirituality in Coping

• The Example of Cancer Patients in Sweden

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• For buying this book please contact
• faw_at_hig.se

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Aim of the Study

• This study, which proceeds from a cultural
  approach to coping and health, is based on a
  research project aimed at identifying the
  religious and spiritually oriented coping methods
  used by cancer patients in Sweden.

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Main questions

• What kinds of religious and spiritually oriented
  coping methods have cancer patients used?

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• Which of the religious and spiritually oriented
  coping methods used by cancer patients can be
  categorized as religious coping as defined by the
  Many Religious Coping Methods (RCOPE)?

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• Besides RCOPE methods, what new religious and
  spiritually oriented coping methods have cancer
  patients used?

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• What has been the role of culture in the choice
  of religious and spiritually oriented coping
  methods?

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What is RCOPE?

• RCOPE is a "theoretically based measure that
  would assess the full range of religious coping
  methods, including potentially helpful and
  harmful religious expressions (Pargament et al.
  2000521).

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• This measure is based not only on the global
  indicators of religiousness (e.g., frequency of
  prayer, congregational attendance), but also on
  how the individual makes use of religion to
  understand and deal with stressors.

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• Moreover, RCOPE reflects the non-static nature of
  coping. Coping is a process, according to
  Pargament (199789).
• I have compared the results of my study with
  RCOPE.

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Religiosity and Spirituality inSweden

• RCOPE is based mainly on studies on USA where
• Nearly 80 of Americans believe in the power of
  God or prayer to improve the course ofillness
  (Wallis 1996).

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• Maldonados (2003) study shows that nearly 70 of
  physicians in the US report patient requests for
  religious counseling in cases of terminal
  illness.

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• As King et al. (1994) maintain, 75 of patients
  in the US believe that their physician should
  address religious issues as part of their medical
  care.

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• About 40 of patients want their physician to
  discuss religious faith with them, and almost 50
  of patients want their physician to pray with
  them.

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• In the US (American Religious Identification
  Survey, 1990)
• 90 of the adult population identified with one
  or another religious group.
• In 2001, such identification has dropped to 81
  (Kosmin et al. 2001).

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• In Sweden
• According to EVS (1990), 21 of people in
  Scandinavian countries believe in a personal God
  and 40 believe in some kind of spirit or life
  force.

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• While almost 58.4 of Americans regard religion
  to be important in their everyday life, only 9.6
  of Swedes see religion in this way (Petersson
  200018).

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Method

• The empirical data for the present study were
  based on interviews with cancer patients.
• The focus, therefore, was put on patients who had
  been socialized in cultural settings in which
  Christianity has been dominant.

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• Fifty-one interviews were conducted in various
  parts of Sweden with patients suffering from
  different types of cancer.

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• The chosen method was semi-structured interviews.

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Table Sample
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RESULT

• Concerning the use of religious and spiritually
  oriented methods by the Swedish informants, we
  learn from this study that

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• Gaining control over the situation is a very
  important coping strategy among Swedish
  informants.

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• The informants show a strong tendency toward
  relying primarily on themselves for solving
  problems related to their disease.

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• Receiving help from other sources, among others
  God or a supreme power, seems to primarily be a
  way to gain more power to help oneself, as
  opposed to passively waiting for a miracle.

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• For the informants, thinking about spiritual
  matters and spiritual connection seems to be more
  important than participating in religious rituals
  and activities.

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• Turning to nature as a sacred and available
  resource is a coping method that all informants
  have used, regardless of their outlook on God,
  their religion and philosophy of life or their
  age and gender.

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• Coping by seeking spirituality in nature, as
  sought by some people in church, coping by
  seeking spiritual tranquility through nature,
  coping by having a spiritual connection with
  nature.

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• Middle-age women seem to have better access to
  both religious and spiritual resources in their
  orienting systems than do other groups. Moreover,
  they showed a greater tendency toward
  spirituality than did the other informants.

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• The reason can be the primarily religious
  socialization.

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SCOPE metoder

• Spiritual Connection with Oneself
• Spiritual Sanctification of Nature
• Positive Solitude
• Altruism
• Search for Meaning
• Holistic Health
• Visualization
• Healing Therapy
• Spiritual Music
• Meditation

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Spiritual Connection with Oneself

• Regarding this pattern, one 48-year-old woman,
  when asked whether she ever had a feeling of
  strong connection with a higher power, answered

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• Yes, I have had it during my training. I used to
  do spiritual training. That in some way I have
  this spiritual connection with a higher power, if
  you like, but its nothing but me. I have this
  force I have, like Buddha, the spiritual power
  inside me. I only know that it has helped me
  pretty much deal with my illness. I was very
  depressed. It helps give me comfort. I feel
  better now.

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Spiritual Sanctification of Nature

• In this regard, one 48-year-old woman from the
  Non-theist Group, when asked whether she used
  to visit church when she was ill, answered

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• No. I used to go out, into the woods. I walked
  outside a lot. I believe that there is more out
  there for me. The Church is beautiful. It has a
  good concert hall and all, nice, Christmas carols
  and so on I think its very nice in church. But
  a spiritual feeling of the kind some people get
  in church I get in nature, this feeling of the
  spiritual, you know.

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Positive Solitude

• One 34-year-old woman from Non-theist Group,
  when asked what made her feel tranquil when she
  was feeling poorly, answered

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• I liked very much being alone remaining alone
  with my thoughts was the most essential way to
  deal with my problems. Ive always liked being on
  my own, writing my thoughts down. Of course I
  liked being with other people too, but I liked
  being alone very much.

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Summary

• This study has shown the importance of
  considering culture and ways of thinking when
  investigating different religious coping methods.
  

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• In this connection, the study has revealed the
  impact of rationalism, individualism, secularism,
  natural romanticism and a tendency toward
  spirituality rather than religiosity in Swedish
  ways of thinking on the choice of coping methods
  among informants.