BACKGROUND Mental disorders such as depression are common and rank as major contributors to the global burden of disease. Condition recognition and subsequent management of depression is variable and influenced by the attitudes and beliefs of clinicians as well as those of patients. Most studies examining health professionals' attitudes have been conducted in Western nations; this study explore...

Religion engenders conflict and cooperation. Defining religion is a prerequisite for pondering this paradox. Scholars define religion in several ways (Roberts 2004). Functional definitions focus on what religion does for adherents, such as providing a perspective from which to interpret the world, helping cope with life's trials, and addressing concerns about the purpose of life and eventuality...

It has been reported that Asian people have negative views of mental illness, including beliefs that it is incurable and shameful. Asian people also tend to attribute causes of mental disorders to factors less susceptible to personal influence such as supernatural factors, and are likely to have an external health locus of control which reflects beliefs that health outcomes are a product of ext...

BACKGROUND People hold a wide variety of beliefs concerning the causes of illness. Such beliefs vary across cultures and, among immigrants, may be influenced by many factors, including level of acculturation, gender, level of education, and experience of illness and treatment. This study examines illness causal beliefs in Turkish-immigrants in Australia. METHODS Causal beliefs about somatic a...

COVID-19 arguably had far-reaching implications for Christianity and the church as an institution. Issues around social distancing lockdown directly impacted articulation religious expression, while understanding of pandemic virus were mediated through constructions religio-spiritual beliefs. Given this, study sought to explore some neo-Pentecostal leaders’ messages in South Africa regarding no...

Current international debates and policies on safe motherhood mainly propose biomedical interventions to reduce the risks during pregnancy and delivery. Yet, the conceptualisations of risk that underlie this framework may not correspond with local perceptions of reproductive dangers; consequently, hospital services may remain underutilised. Inspired by a growing body of anthropological literatu...