“I Honestly Believe God Keeps me Healthy so I Can Take Care of My Child”: Parental Use of Faith Related to Treatment Adherence

Abstract

A limited number of studies address parental faith and its relationship to their children's health. Using cystic fibrosis as a disease exemplar in which religion/spirituality have been shown to play a role and parental health behaviors (adherence to their child's daily recommended home treatments) are important, this study explored whether parents with different levels of adherence would describe use of faith differently. Twenty-five interviews were completed and analyzed using grounded theory methodology. Some parents described no relationship between faith and treatment adherence. However, of those who did, higher-adherence parents believed God empowered them to care for their child and they used prayer to change themselves, while lower-adherence parents described trusting God to care for their child and used prayer to change God. Clinical implications for chaplains’ differential engagement with parents are presented.

KEYWORDS:

• adherence
• cystic fibrosis
• parents
• religion

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by a grant from the Eunice Shriver Kennedy National Center for Child and Human Development, NIH/NICHD K23HD062642 (PI: Grossoehme), K23HD052639 (PI: Cotton), NIH UL1 RR026314, and the Department of Pastoral Care and Division of Pediatric Pulmonary Medicine. The authors are grateful to J. Denise Wetzel for critical review of this manuscript.

Notes

*Value is < 25 because more than one parent of a child participated.