www.aafp.org/afp AMERICAN FAMILY PHYSICIAN 81 God. One study found that 94 percent of patients admitted to hospitals believe that spiritual health is as important as physical health, 77 percent believe that physicians should consider their patients’ spiritual needs as part of their medical care, and 37 percent want their physician to discuss their religious beliefs more. However, 80 percent rep...

BACKGROUND Muslim women are one sub-population in Ghana among whom the rate of skilled maternal health services accessibility and utilisation is very low. However, there are no studies in Ghana that explore the maternity needs and care experiences of Muslim women, and why they do not utilise maternal healthcare services at health facilities. The purpose of this paper is to explore the maternity...

OBJECTIVE Aspects of the patient-physician relationship, such as trust, influence a variety of health behaviors, including adherence to treatment regimens and the use of preventive health services. While several demographic and socioeconomic factors have been found to predict levels of trust in physicians, little is known about the influence of religious beliefs and behaviors. METHODS The rel...

An increasing number of contemporary research publications acknowledge the influence of religion and culture on sexual and reproductive behavior and health-care utilization. It is currently hypothesized that religious influences can partly explain disparities in sexual and reproductive health outcomes. In this paper, we will pay particular attention to Muslims in sexual and reproductive health ...

The empirical literature from epidemiological and clinical studies regarding the relationship between religious factors (eg, frequency of religious attendance, private religious involvement, and relying on one's religious beliefs as a source of strength and coping) and physical and mental health status in the areas of prevention, coping, and recovery was reviewed. Empirical studies from the pub...

This paper examines the life stories of 14 men and women who spent time in religious communities and who subsequently took up work in the caring professions. Their accounts reflect the alignment between the ethics of care and those of religious life, the centrality of contemplation and self-examination to both Christianity and psychotherapy. There are further correspondences between their narra...

Multiculturalism and its associated plurality of value systems is rapidly becoming the norm in modern medical practice. Given this increasing diversity, greater emphasis upon cultural and ethical competence in physician training is necessary in order to provide culturally sensitive and ethically sound care. Religious values shape ethical codes and are expressed in the cultural norms of subcommu...

b a ckground: the purpose of this study was to examine religious, cultural, and social beliefs of healthy women about breast cancer in rural settings in iran. m ethods: in the present study, 16 in-depth interviews with health care leaders, social and religious experts and 11 focus group discussions were conducted with 79 women in the rural areas near the capital city of tehran, iran. grounded t...