Conference on Research inFaith and Health in Secular Society

18 May 2010Odense, Denmark

Qualitative methods used in a study on religious and spiritual coping methods among cancer patients in Sweden

Fereshteh Ahmadi, Ph.D. Professor,

Department of social work and Psychology, University of Gävle,

Department of Sociology, Uppsala university

In USA

Stark et al. (2005:12) point out that the General

Survey 2000 in the United State shows:

The ‘nones’ are not the vanguard of

secularization, but that most of them pursue

privatized religion.

Two out of five of these “nones” pray daily or weekly and only 4% never pray. Atheist are few, the majority believe in God and many of the rest believe in a ‘higher power”.

According to Stark et al. (2005:15),

“Americans are thought to be among the most religious people on earth”.

Nearly 80% of Americans believe in the

power of God or prayer to improve the

course of illness (Wallis 1996).

Maldonado’s (2003) study shows that

nearly 70% of physicians in the US report

patient requests for religious counseling in

cases of terminal illness.

As King et al. (1994) maintain, 75% of

patients in the US believe that their

physician should address religious issues

as part of their medical care.

In the US (American Religious Identification

Survey, 1990)

“90% of the adult population identified with one

or another religious group.

In 2001, such identification has dropped to 81%”

(Kosmin et al. 2001).

In Scandinavia

According to EVS (1990), 21% of people

in Scandinavian countries believe in a

personal God and 40% believe in some

kind of spirit or life force.

In Sweden There is a personal God 16% There is some sort of spiritual or life force 35%

I don’t really know what to think 29% I don’t really think there is any sort of spirit, God or life force 20%

While almost 58.4% of Americans regard

religion to be important in their everyday

life, only 9.6% of Swedes see religion in

this way (Petersson 2000:18).

Only 15.8% of Swedes believe that God is important in their life. The corresponding figure for Americans is 73% (Petersson 2000:18).

Culture, Religion and Spirituality in Coping

The Example of Cancer Patients in Sweden

Aim of the Study

The study proceeded from a cultural approach to coping and health, and was based on a research project aimed at identifying the religious and spiritually oriented coping methods used by cancer patients in Sweden.

Method The empirical data for the present

study were based on interviews with cancer patients.

The focus, therefore, was put on patients who had been socialized in cultural settings in which Christianity has been dominant.

For this reason, Swedes socialized in a Jewish, Muslim or other non-Christian culture were not included in this study. This does not imply, however, that only those practicing Christianity were eligible.

The exclusion concerned only people who had been reared in non-Christian religions.

Fifty-one interviews were conducted in various parts of Sweden with patients suffering from different types of cancer.

The chosen method was semistructured interviews.

Table : SampleSEX AGE

18-40 41-64 65+

AGE AT DIAGNOSIS

18-40 41-64 65+

OUTLOOK ON LIFE

Religious Spiritual Atheist

M(18)

0 10 8 2 12 4 6 5 7

W(33)

10 21 2 14 18 1 8 22 3

The Many Methods of Religious Coping: RCOPE

Seeking Spiritual Support  One interviewee from the “Non-

theist Group”, a 47-year-old woman, pointed out that:

Then I began to think more and more about spirituality in relation to my situation. Even if you don’t believe in God, in such a situation you begin to ponder: ”What if there is a God”. You pray to God and seek his love almost for security reasons. Even though when I was very sick I had difficulty saying "God help me", I did have such thoughts. I was too weak to go through that miserable situation alone.

Pleading for Direct Intercession One interviewee from the “Non-

theist Group”, a 25-year-old woman, explained that:

I did in the beginning. I don’t truly believe that there is a God that can help me, but I had a conversation with someone, maybe it was with myself or something or someone who I wanted to hear me. I said: “God if you make me better, then I promise to start doing things I’m not doing now.” And I promised to start singing again.

New Spiritually Oriented Coping Methods Similar to RCOPE Punishment: One interviewee, a 43-year-old

woman from the “Non-theist Group,” explained that:

I believe that if you have some sort of basic foundation of faith then it becomes a bit easier, but it isn’t decisive. For me it feels good considering my belief in cause and effect. “All that is given will be received”, the charismatic lesson. I’m sure my poor relationship with my mother has to do with my breast cancer. Mother apparently translates into breast in Latin.

Spiritual Prayer When asked if he prays, one 70-

year-old man from the “Non-theist Group” answered:

I might have prayed to a higher power… but this is something indeterminable to me. In my darkest moments... during the worst times… at night. One could say that.

The following dialogue with a 53-year-old man from the “Non-theist Group” presents the function of praying as a relaxation method.

It has never been like I’ve prayed to get well or asked for a miracle...but

I have asked for help to be part of the great force that exists. I have gone

that far and that I've done before all treatments. But I’ve never asked for

everything to be fine, I don’t think you can pray for that. It gets to be as

if you take away your own part in it all...and I am a part of this great

force. That way I can also create it, not only get help from it. But praying

has been important for my ability to face the difficult situation, a kind

relaxation pill.

New Spiritually Oriented Coping Methods Dissimilar to RCOPE . SCOPE metoder

Spiritual Connection with Oneself Spiritual Sanctification of Nature Positive Solitude Altruism Search for Meaning Holistic Health

– Visualization – Healing Therapy – Spiritual Music – Meditation

Spiritual Connection with Oneself

In response to the question of whether religion has played a role in dealing with her disease, one 49-year-old woman from the “Non-theist Group” said:

Religion, no. Spirituality, yes, if it means that you have an inner strength that helps you get through a disease and also faith in the future. ….Spirituality has helped me find my inner strength, but also why I am who I am and the meaning of my existence.

Spiritual Sanctification of Nature

One 53-year-old woman from the “Theist Group”, a pastor, when asked whether she used to visit church when she was ill, answered:

Yes. But I don’t go at all often anymore, probably once a month at the most. But I don’t need a church to experience spirituality. I can become amazingly stimulated by a natural experience. Nature actually gives me more, taking a wonderful walk gives me more comfort and spiritual feeling than sitting in church. I rise with nature so to speak... I guess I carry that with me as a heritage from my parents, but after cancer, it happens more often that I go to the forest, outside, deliberately to find peace and tranquility. This has helped me a lot in finding my mental balance. I was very unbalanced after getting sick and had very turbulent feelings, which were quite dangerous for my health. Nature has cured me; I feel a spiritual affiliation with it.

 

One 29-year-old woman from the “Atheists

Group” explained as follows the role of nature in

fighting the fear and stressors her illness has

brought about:

Nature has meant a great deal. I’ve walked a lot in the woods. Before, it was more that I went jogging or did aerobics. But then I understood more and more that this was what I liked. I have come to understand things that I might have unconsciously felt even before, but now I have realized that this is what I want. So when I have been outdoors, first and foremost, I felt I was myself, that there was time for thoughts, it was peaceful, everything else disappeared. Whatever happens in the world to me or others, nature is still there, it keeps going. That is a feeling of security when everything else is chaos. The leaves fall off, new ones appear, somewhere there is a pulse that keeps going. The silence, it has become so apparent, when you want to get away from all the noise. It is a spiritual feeling, if we can use that word without connecting it to God, this is what I feel in nature and it’s like a powerful therapy.

Positive Solitude

An interviewee from the atheist group, a 53-year-old man, explained that:

Now after being stricken with cancer, I can be sitting just watching the clouds for hours, not doing anything at all. We have a studio apartment here in town and I use to sit there on the upper floor looking out over the rooftops and then I felt so close to heaven. There I can sit and just watch without reading or writing… I get into a sort of expressionless neutral position, and that is wonderfully healing.

Summary

This study has shown the importance of considering culture and ways of thinking when investigating different religious coping methods.

Concerning the use of religious and spiritually oriented methods by the Swedish informants, we learn from this study that:

A tendency toward gaining control by the means of, among

other things, religious methods.

In this respect, seeking God’s or a spiritual being’s help

seems to be primarily a means of gaining more power so that

the patients can deal, by themselves, with the stressors

caused by cancer.

In this respect, an apparent tendency toward relying on

oneself when facing difficulties was recognized.

For the informants, thinking about spiritual matters and spiritual connection seems to be more important than participating in religious rituals and activities.

A tendency toward seeking privacy and disengaging from other people when facing the stressors of the illness.

A tendency toward natural romanticism, which makes nature an available source for coping.

A tendency toward rationalism and pragmatism colored by optimism when facing the problems brought about by the illness.

The role of culture

Tendency toward spirituality

Swedish society has moved, during the past three centuries, toward a more individualistic and secular society, where religion has become less organized and more private. This in turn, together with other characteristics of the Swedish culture, such as nature romanticism, has probably given rise to the predominance of spirituality as opposed to religiosity among Swedes.

 

Tendency toward privacy To understand this tendency, we should take into

consideration that Swedes are very individual-oriented and seek positive solitude. This is not to say that there not are some, especially old persons, who suffer from loneliness. With regard to the notion that Swedes are individual-oriented, we find the following about them in a handbook for newcomers to Sweden:

 

As long as it is not permanent or forced upon them, most Swedes not only tolerate but even enjoy being by themselves. Swedes take it for granted that other people share their preference for privacy, and they try to respect this. They don't thrust themselves on others. They don't ask personal questions… The ideal is to live in peace and to be left in peace.

This partially explains the tendency toward privacy in coping found among Swedes and the fact that they generally do not wish to bother others with their problems.

Tendency towards natural romanticism It is said that “Swedes generally speaking have

an almost sacred relationship to nature” (Herlitz 1995:36).

It seems as though modern Swedes are seeking experiences that used to be mediated by Christian culture, but now in ways other than through traditional religion.

One of these ways involves experiencing one’s unity with nature. Being in natural environments and feeling a sense of unity with them can give spiritual feelings of unification with the whole of existence. As some informants stressed, nature becomes the church and unity with the holy becomes unity with nature.

 

Tendency toward rationalism and pragmatism

Last but not least is the strong tendency toward rationalism and pragmatism in Swedish ways of thinking – a tendency that has probably influenced how the Swedish patients in this study coped with their illness.

Rationalism and pragmatism are regarded as two important components of Swedish ways of thinking (Pettersson & Riis 1994). Swedes are famous for their pragmatism.

As Runblom (1998) emphasizes, the Swedish tradition offers a high degree of pragmatism when it comes to solving societal problems. The Swedish model of corporatist policy, which has received international attention, has been referred to as "principled pragmatism" (Heclo & Madsen 1987)