309
Views
18
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Original Article

Religious views of the ‘medical’ rehabilitation model: a pilot qualitative study

&
Pages 455-462 | Accepted 01 Dec 2003, Published online: 07 Jul 2009
 

Abstract

Purpose: To explore the religious beliefs that patients may bring to the rehabilitation process, and the hypothesis that these beliefs may diverge from the medical model of rehabilitation.

Methods: Qualitative semi-structured interviews with representatives of six major religions—Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, Sikhism, and Hinduism. Representatives were either health care professionals or religious leaders, all with an interest in how their religion approached health issues.

Results: There were three recurrent themes in the interviews: religious explanations for injury and illness; beliefs about recovery; religious duties of care towards family members. The Buddhist, Sikh, and Hindu interviewees described beliefs about karma—unfortunate events happening due to a person's former deeds. Fatalistic ideas, involving God having control over an individual's recovery, were expressed by the Muslim, Jewish, and Christian interviewees. All interviewees expressed the fundamental importance of a family's religious duty of care towards ill or injured relatives, and all expressed some views that were compatible with the medical model of rehabilitation.

Conclusions: Religious beliefs may both diverge from and resonate with the medical rehabilitation model. Understanding these beliefs may be valuable in facilitating the rehabilitation of diverse religious groups.

Gavin Yamey was a registrar in rehabilitation at the Regional Neurological Rehabilitation Unit, Homerton Hospital at the time of the study.

Gavin Yamey was a registrar in rehabilitation at the Regional Neurological Rehabilitation Unit, Homerton Hospital at the time of the study.

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.