Konference om Forskning i Tro og Helbred i Sekulariserede Samfund, 17.-19. maj 2010
March 29, 2010
Interdisciplinært Netværk for Forskning i Tro og Helbred i Danmark indbyder til den første nordiske konference om forholdet mellem tro og helbred, der afholdes på Syddansk Universitet fra 17.-19. maj 2010.
Konferencen fokuserer på forholdet mellem tro og helbred samt religiøs coping i sekulariserede samfund med deltagelse af ledende internationale forskere af forskellig baggrund men med spidskompetencer indenfor feltet. Den henvender sig til alle med interesse for området: Læger, sygeplejersker, sjælesørgere, forskere indenfor feltet fra forskellige akademiske discipliner, etc. Der er især lagt op til, at forskere, der er i gang med projekter indenfor feltet, kan præsentere afsluttet og igangværende arbejde i form af papers og posters og på den måde inspirere andre interesserede og selv få kvalificeret feedback.
Flere og flere internationale og begyndende danske forskningsresultater tyder på en sammenhæng mellem eksistenstænkning, spiritualitet, religion og helbred – både fysisk og psykisk. Fx viser studier, at mennesker, der går i kirke eller har en religiøst inspireret livsstil har en nedsat sygdomsrisiko og lever længere, end den almindelige danske befolkning. Studier viser endvidere, at eksistentielle og religiøse overvejelser får større betydning hos mennesker, der er i krise fx som følge af en kræftdiagnose, bl.a. fordi spiritualitet og tro kan give håb og mental styrke i en krise.
Størstedelen af denne forskning har imidlertid udgangspunkt i Nordamerika, i en religiøs og kulturel kontekst, der er meget anderledes end det sekulariserede Nordeuropa. I de nordeuropæiske lande har den eksistentielle psykologi og filosofi været det primære udgangspunkt, når man ønskede at udforske patienters eksistentielle behov. Konferencen søger at bringe de to forskningstraditioners indsigter i dialog med hinanden med henblik på at styrke forskningskompetencerne i mening og helbred i sekulære samfund.
Konferencen finder sted på Konferencecenteret på Syddansk Universitet, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense M fra den 17. til den 19. maj 2010. Formiddagen den 17. maj er gratis, og konferencebidrag til de resterende dage er meget lav pga. en generøs bevilling fra Forskningsrådet for Kultur og Kommunikation (FKK).
For en engelsk præsentation, information om priser samt online registrering klik her.
Konferencen finder sted i forlængelse af European Conference on Religion, Spirituality and Health, Bern, Schweiz (13.-15. maj). De to konferencer fungerer som hinandens supplement. Hvor konferencen i Bern beskæftiger sig med europæiske eksistentielle, spirituelle og religiøse forhold i relation til helbred, supplerer konferencen i Danmark med perspektiver på forskning i et sekulariseret samfund. Det vil derfor være en stor fordel at deltage i begge konferencer. Derfor tilbydes der også reduktion på konferencerudgifterne, hvis man deltager begge steder.
Reminder: European Conference on Religion, Spirituality and Health, 13.-15. May 2010
March 16, 2010
Reminder: European Conference on Religion, Spirituality and Health, 13.-15. May 2010.
The 2nd European Conference on Religion, Spirituality and Health puts a special emphasis on religious and spiritual coping in health and disease. The keynote speakers approach the topic from their specific professional background.
The newly disposed Berne Lecture will be held by Prof. Kenneth Pargament, an internationally recognised expert on religious coping. Symposia invite discussion and free communications allow research groups to present their research projects either orally or as posters. The best poster presentation given by a young researcher will be honored by the Young Researchers Award.
Another focus is to strengthen the network among researchers in the field and to promote scientific projects. A public lecture will be given by Prof. Thierry Carell.
The conference in Denmark takes place just after the European Conference on Religion, Spirituality and Health, Bern, Schweiz (13.-15. May). The two conferences are complementary. Whereas the conference in Bern deals broadly with the topic of religious coping in a European context, the conference in Denmark supplements with perspectives on research in faith and health in secular society with the particular challenges this provides for the field.
Thus, it will be a significant advantage to take part at both venues, which is why there is a reduction of conference costs when participants register for both venues. Researchers that submit papers that are selected for paper sessions will have free admission to the conference day of their presentation.
For more on the conference in Bern, please click here.
Ph.d.-forsvar om kræftpatienters erfaring med etableret og alternativ behandling
March 15, 2010
Antropolog Anita Ulrich erhvervede sig ph.d.-graden d. 9. februar 2009 ved et offentligt forsvar på Det Sundhedsvidenskabelige Fakultet, Syddansk Universitet. Anita Ulrich har i sit projekt undersøgt kræftpatienters erfaringer med etableret og alternativ behandling og betydningen for det oplevede sygdomsforløb. Projektet viser, at den etablerede kræftbehandling ikke i samme grad som visse former for alternativ behandling har rum for eksistentielle aspekter af sygdomsforløbet. Samtidigt viser projektet, at konkrete alternative behandlinger for kræftpatienter kan fungere som en form for spirituel praksis. For nogle patienter kan alternativ behandling på den måde give rum for, at troen kan udfoldes.
Afhandingen har titlen: Narrativ fleksibilitet i sygdomsforløb med kræft. Kræftpatienters fortællinger om etableret og alternativ behandling.
Eksemplarer af afhandlingen kan købes for kr. 150 pr. stk. inkl. forsendelse ved henvendelse til aulrich@health.sdu.dk
Netværket ønsker Anita et stort tillykke og god vind med forskningen fremover!
State of the Art in Research on Faith and Health
March 14, 2010
| By MD., MHSc., Prof. Dr., Harold G. Koenig Duke University & Duke Medical School, North Carolina Post Conference Ressources |
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Abstract
Dr. Koenig will provide a definition of religion and spirituality for research purposes, emphasizing the importance of non-overlapping constructs (particularly not overlapping with positive aspects of mental health) that do not lead to tautological, meaningless findings. He will then briefly review previous research findings on relationships between faith, mental health, and physical health, and will discuss differences between studies in the U.S. and Europe. He will present a theoretical interactive model that describes how religion may impact health and longevity. This model emphasizes the source of religion’s effects and describes the mental, behavioral, and social pathways by which religion may influence either resistance to disease or greater vulnerability to it. He will emphasize the bi-directionality of relationships in this model, discussing how mental and physical illness may influence religious beliefs and commitments. He will also discuss how common genetic factors that may underlie some of these associations. Dr. Koenig will then review the highest priority areas for research for the future, emphasizing the most important questions that need answering in mental health, physical health, disease prevention, and clinical applications (as well as pointing out “dead ends” in research). He will emphasize the need for collaboration and multi-center studies, as well as the importance of clinical trials and intervention studies. Finally, Dr. Koenig will also provide resources for researchers who wish to conduct studies in religion, spirituality and health.
Harold G. Koenig, M.D.
Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Associate Professor of Medicine
Director, Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health (effective July 2010)
Duke University Medical Center
Durham, North Carolina USA
When humans and non-humans transform
March 1, 2010
By Master in Sociology of Religion, Katja Nielsen
Post Conference Ressources
Poster – download here
CV – download here
Abstract
In Denmark, more than 60,000 children grow up in a home in which at least one of the parents has been hospitalized due to an alcohol-related diagnosis. The exact number of children growing up in a home with alcohol abuse is unknown. Research show that if the problem goes unnoticed it may have psychological, social and emotional consequences for the child in his or her adult life. For instance, every third child of an alcoholic develops alcohol abuse as an adult. At the moment there are 632.000 adut children of alcoholics living in Denmark. When seeking help, this group of people is mostly referred to private and voluntary help as the law does not guarantee help for adult children of alcoholics. These private and voluntary offers of help are often religious or spiritual in character. Several studies on alcoholism have shown that religion and spirituality can play an important part in the healing process. Very little research has been done on how faith, religion and spirituality can act as factors in the healing process of adult children of alcoholics or other dysfunctional parents though.
Through an in-depth qualitative study of Adult Children Anonymous (ACA), I have investigated how faith, spirituality and religion can play a part in the healing process of three informants. Using mainly ritual theory, actor-network theory, post-ant analytical concepts, I have explained how the healing process in a twelve step program such as ACA can work as a transformation process for the person seeking help. This matter has been investigated by asking how spiritual communities such as ACA deal with defence mechanisms such as isolation, co-dependence and denial.
The findings show that former defence mechanisms used to cope with childhood experiences can be transformed into another way of coping with life, through spiritual and religious aspects. The twelve step program offers a framework in which the individual’s self-understanding can be decomposed and reconstructed by the help of the ACA community. A process that transforms the individual’s way of thinking of him or herself, others, the childhood experiences and the world. But can a transformation, a healing process, or even a salvation be said to be final? Or is it an ongoing, never ending proces and if so how is it possible to monitor this form of movement?
Faith, existence and birth of preterm babies – Existential and religious issues among mothers of babies born preterm
March 1, 2010
| By Midwife, Cand. Scient. San. lecturer, Christina Prinds Rasmussen School of Midwifery, University College Vest Post Conference Ressources |
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Abstract
Aim
The aim is to explore if becoming a mother preterm of a preterm baby, actualises existential and religious issues, and to explore the impact of the considerations in the way of coping.
The aim of the study has two dimensions:
- To explore the independent influence of pregnancy and childbirth related to an upgrade of existential and religious issues among Danish mothers of babies born either around due date or preterm.
- To explore the impact of existential and religious issues on the way of coping, among mothers of preterm babies, who have or have not, respectively, an integrated religiosity.
Method
The project follows a mixed methods strategy. It is initiated by a quantitative questionnaire (Part one) among two groups at Odense Universitetshospital: Mothers of preterm babies born before 32nd week of gestation, and mothers of full term babies. Part one also determines informants in part two.
Part two consists of qualitative interviews. The aim is 20 interviews, semi-structured in order to maintain focus but still allowing complexity. There will be two groups (10 interviews in each group) of informants selected from the survey, but only among the mothers who had a preterm baby: One group of these mothers who experienced that the existential and religious issues had big impact on their way of coping, and one group who did not attach importance to these issues.
Results Pilotstudy
The preliminary results, indicate that for the informants in the pilotstudy (2008), existential and religious issues are not separate from the way, the situation is made manageable, but are to be understood as a part of the women’s and the family’s context, and has thus impact on her and the family’s health.
Wanted! Possible links between religious coping and safety
March 1, 2010
| By Fabienne Knudsen & Sisse Grøn Centre of Maritime Health and Safety, University of Southern Denmark Post Conference Ressources |
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Abstract
This is really more an inquiry than a normally structured abstract. We are two researchers in maritime health and safety that never previously have paid attention to religious coping. However, the issues raised by our project require an unprejudiced consideration of all kinds of explanations, including religious ones.
The project
In the past years, safety has been in focus in seafaring, and there has been a reduction in the number of reported work injuries in ships registered in the Danish International Ship Register (DIS) since 1998. The injuries, though, are not evenly distributed and seem to depend on a range of factors, of which the type of ship and the nationality of the seafarer are critical. Statistics show that Filipino seafarers working on Danish ships have less than 50% reported accidents compared to Danes – the Danes having the highest rate of reported accidents and the Filipinos the lowest one – other nationalities being intermediate. Some of the differences may be due to a difference in the rate of accident reporting. However, several studies indicate that seafarers from South East Asia, mainly the Philippines, have a genuine lower risk of occupational accidents than seafarers from Western Europe.
Therefore, the project will seek to identify relevant aspects of both reporting practice and safety culture in Danish seafaring.
The objective of the project is to identify causes behind the registered difference in numbers of injuries among Danish seafarers and their foreign colleagues, in order to direct future safety initiative towards the relevant factors.
The research questions are as follows:
How is safety learnt, conceived of, communicated and practiced, within the national groupings, and between the national groupings?
Which factors function as incentives or disincentives to a suitable reporting practice?
Are there special conditions concerning reporting in the case of non Danish seafarers?
Points of relevance to research in faith and health
If the study confirms that the Filipino’s lower rate of injuries is, at least partly, due to a better safety attitude or a more adequate safety culture, what can be the reasons for it? So far, we have only found few tracks with some explanatory force. One is given by Gunnar Lamvik who, in his book “The Filipino Seafarer – A Life between Sacrifice and shopping” suggests that Filipino seafarers pay particular attention to safety because of their role as breadwinner (in the limited welfare system of the Philippines). While working aboard, they are ‘on mission for the family’. Indeed, we have both done fieldwork on board with Filipinos and noticed that they widely consider their sailing time as a ‘sacrifice’ for their family. Another explanation is provided by Greg Bankoff who points to the fact that no country has been subjected to as many catastrophes as the Philippines. This has compelled the Filipinos to develop a range of coping strategies towards hazards. However, it is not obvious that these can be transferred to a safer personal attitude at work.
Although it is clear from our fieldwork that faith plays a huge role in the life of the Filipino seafarers, we have not considered the possible influence played by religion in safety attitude or risk perception so far. Attending this conference, calling on your attention with our poster, we hope to get new insight in the issue raised above.
Existential, religious and spiritual orientations among Danish cancer patients in a secular context: A qualitative investigation within cancer rehabilitation
March 1, 2010
| By Mag.art., Elisabeth Assing Hvidt Institute of Public Health, Research Unit of Health, Man and Society, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Southern Denmark Post Conference Ressources |
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Abstract
North-American research show that many patients in cancer rehabilitation experience unmet existential needs during the process of rehabilitating. Furthermore American patient surveys document that existential resources are often used to cope with the stresses involved in recovery after cancer.
Within a Danish cancer rehabilitation setting focus has primarily been on the physical, psychical and social rehabilitation needs whereas the existential aspects of rehabilitation have to date been largely neglected.
Demark is considered a highly secularized country having a religio-cultural identity very different from a North-American identity, where religion is found to play a vital role. Therefore a specific Danish research study is needed to assess the existential, religious and spiritual needs of Danish cancer patients being embedded in a secular culture.
The purpose of this ph.d.-study is to identify existential, religious and spiritual orientations among Danish cancer patients in rehabilitation in order to assess whether future rehabilitation initiatives in Denmark should incorporate increased attention on existential aspects and if so in what way.
The following three research questions will be addressed:
I. Are existential concerns in evidence among Danish cancer patients in rehabilitation care and if so how can these be caracterized?
II. How do existential factors relate to the rehabilitation of the patient (positive vs. negative coping)?
III. To what extent do these existential resources support, supplement or challenge theories of religious change in modernity and late modernity?
Data are generated through ethnographic fieldwork comprising 1) participant observation during rehabilitation week courses held at a Danish Rehabilitation Center and 2) semistructured interviews in the homes of 25 rehabilitation patients.
Data will be analysed on the basis of the following three theoretical frameworks: 1. Kenneth Pargament’s overall theory that human beings faced with crisis turn to available orienting systems to explain life’s ultimate concerns such as death and suffering 2. Psychological theories about the concept of religious and spiritual coping defined as the way in wich existential, religious and spiritual cognitions and practices are fashioned into stress management, psychical and mental well-being and personal mastery. 3) Sociological theories on the changes of religion in modernity and late-modernity with Charles Taylor’s secularisation theory and key concepts as primary analysis tools.
Taking both secular, spiritual, and religious meaning making seriously
March 1, 2010
| By Ph.d. and Clinical Health Psychologist, Peter La Cour1 and Ass. Prof., Theol. Dr., Niels Christian Hvidt2 1Pain Clinic, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen 2 Institue of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark Post Conference Ressources |
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Abstract
In this presentation we propose a conceptual framework in the field of meaning-making and religious coping in secular cultures such as those of Northern Europe. Seeking an operational approach, we have narrowed the field’s components down to a number of basic domains and dimensions that provide a more authentic cultural basis for research in secular society. Reviewing the literature, three main domains of existential meaning-making emerge: Secular, spiritual, and religious. In reconfirming these three domains, we propose to couple them with the three dimensions of cognition (knowing), practice (doing), and importance (being), resulting in a conceptual framework that can serve as a fundamental heuristic and methodological research tool for mapping the field of existential meaning-making and health.
We want to discuss the relationship between the three domains of meaning making that all addresses basic existential conditions and all are deeply connected to the context of the participants and the researcher.
The understanding of “religious coping” is also context dependent. We want to discuss the possibility for broadening the understanding models of stress and coping to encompass both the past and the future of the persons involved. Also we want to discuss a more multidimensional understanding of the concepts of positive and negative outcome of coping processes.
Delivering spiritual and religious care to patients with ethnic minority backgrounds. Emerging religious resources amongst minorities during hospital admittance. The case of Ethnic Resourceteam at Rigshospitalet and Herlev Hospital, Denmark
March 1, 2010
| By Project coordinator and hospitalimam, Naveed Baig1 and Psychologist Nadia Qureshi2 1 Rigshospitalet and Herlev Hospital, Denmark 2 Dansk Kognitivt Center, Copenhagen, Denmark Post Conference Ressources |
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Abstract
Ethnic Resourceteam, a hospital project running from Jan. 2008- Jan.2011, has three main functions. Providing a visiting and support function for patients and relatives, bridge-building between hospital staff and patients/relatives and lastly offering education and supervision to staff.
The visiting function consists of 34 volunteers from various ethnical, cultural and religious backgrounds that provide care and support to patients and relatives. The visiting function also consists of a volunteer chaplaincy service other than the majority Lutheran Christian chaplaincy. During 2009, Ethnic Ressourceteam had 203 patient related contacts. About a third of them were related to chaplaincy services- specifically to the Muslim chaplaincy.
What kind of spiritual and religious care do these patients and relatives desire? Are there any trends? The statistics will shed light on these questions. Thereafter some observations and experiences from the patients and relatives own religious resources, will be discussed.
Conference on Faith and Health in Secular Society 2010
