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Further Developing the Reasonability View
Published in Robert F. Card, A New Theory of Conscientious Objection in Medicine, 2020
I will next discuss another potential criticism of my appeal to public reason. Benjamin Zolf (2019, 4) discusses my public reason standard of justification and argues that it is not workable. After providing some details of my account, he writes: The Rawlsian standard described by Card contrasts starkly with the arguments marshalled by most supporters of conscientious objection…. Canadian and American debates about conscientious objection are held over comprehensive religious doctrines and the freedom to express them in the course of professional duty. Almost invariably, when healthcare providers conscientiously object to the delivery of a particular service, their concerns lie with the religious beliefs that motivate their objections, and not some reasonable conception of the good that the service violates. Rawls’ discussion of public reason speaks explicitly against this. There is no reason, he writes, “why any citizen … should have the right to use state power to decide constitutional essentials as that person's … comprehensive doctrine directs.” To the extent that government regulation and licensing of medical professionals constitutes “state power,” Rawls’ conception of public reason's place in political justice could not count more clearly against medical conscientious objection in actual practice.
Rehabilitation and self-care
Published in Barbara Smith, Linda Field, Nursing Care, 2019
Spirituality means different things to different people and it is often expressed in varied ways. People can have a diverse range of beliefs which may impact on the person and how they respond to care and treatment (Department of Health, 2017). Spirituality can be seen as a need to find meaning, purpose and fulfilment in life, suffering and death. It is the need for hope, the will to live and belief in oneself, others and, for some people, God (Hoeman, 2002). All care and treatment is influenced to some degree by the patient’s spirituality and system of beliefs, it is also influenced by the caregiver’s beliefs. A person’s religious belief may affect whether they accept certain treatments (Department of Health, 2017). The nurse is in a unique position to assist in upholding the patient’s system of beliefs. The nurse can ascertain what practices are meaningful to the patient and can help to facilitate these practices. Assessment of the patient’s situation on their spiritual well-being is an important part of treatment, as the spiritual well-being will in turn have consequences on the patient’s response to care and treatment (Department of Health, 2017). An assessment that helps the patient to maintain their spirituality considers the individual’s life history and background; only then can the assessor gain the patient’s trust and respect and be able to make a complete assessment.
Religious and cultural beliefs
Published in John Tingle, Clayton Ó Néill, Morgan Shimwell, Global Patient Safety, 2018
Therefore, in the context of the guidelines under which medical professionals work, there is cognisance taken of patients’ religious and/or cultural beliefs. Notwithstanding the existence of guidelines that support this, there are, however, instances where the manifestation of religious belief might be perceived to impact negatively upon patient safety. One such instance is ritual male circumcision and attention is now drawn to that area.
Stigmatization as a barrier to accessing mental health services: An editorial
Published in International Journal of Mental Health, 2023
In a first publication, Choudhry et al. (2023) reviewed the barriers to accessing mental health care in Pakistan and found six studies reporting stigma as the main barrier to receiving mental health services. In another study, among N = 1,720 adult Ukrainians, Jiang et al. (2023) reported that increased religious beliefs were associated with decreased treatment seeking behavior. Further, among the treatment-seeking participants, weaker religious beliefs was associated with seeking alternative mental health treatments (as opposed to conventional treatments). In another study, Subu et al. (2023) reported in a qualitative study examining N = 25 Indonesian families that stigmatization also prevented patients from accessing conventional mental health care. Taken together, these two papers pointed out that one of the main determinants of stigmatization was cultural background. While it may be difficult (and even not desirable) to target cultural and/or religious beliefs in order to support destigmatization, there may be other ways to decrease perceived stigma and increase access to care among patients with mental health conditions. In a fourth study among N = 305 South-Korean university students, increased mental health literacy was in fact associated with decreased stigmatization (Kim, 2023), suggesting that targeting mental health literacy may be helpful to decrease self-stigma. In addition, this study also found that mental health literacy might improve treatment-seeking behaviors regardless of perceived stigma.
Hospital chaplains facing the pandemic. A qualitative study
Published in Journal of Health Care Chaplaincy, 2023
This research shows that hospital chaplains operate at many healthcare sites and play an active role in supporting patients, families and healthcare teams. Indeed, many priests possess skills which allow them to create trust and openness which, in turn, facilitate the articulation of spiritual needs by the patients and healthcare professionals alike (Best et al., 2021; Bushfield, 2020; Carey & Mathisen, 2018; Desjardins et al., 2021; Graves et al., 2002; Harrison & Scarle, 2020; Papadopoulos et al., 2021; Snowden, 2021; Timmins et al., 2018; Timmins & Caldeira, 2019; Vandenhoeck, 2021; Wierstra et al., 2020). This is important, because medical professionals often do not have time and are unprepared to answer patients’ existential doubts and worries, to talk about religious beliefs regarding diseases or to fulfil their spiritual needs. Thus, it is chaplains who engage and offer the opportunity to express such needs. Consequently, they contribute to developing a whole-person approach which should include all the patients’ physical, psychological, emotional, social and spiritual needs that other health professionals do not find easy to fulfil (Koenig, 2020). However, although chaplains interviewed suggested that the hospital chaplaincy continues to fulfil important spiritual care interventions (Bushfield, 2020; Chirico & Nucera, 2020; Drummond & Carey, 2020; Harrison & Scarle, 2020; Wierstra et al., 2020), they also complained that their contribution to healthcare is not always understood by the hospital authorities and medical staff.
Satanic sexuality: understanding Satanism as a diversity issue for sex and relationship therapists
Published in Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 2022
Eric Sprankle, Samuel Danielson, Tayler Lyng, Mariah Severud
As mentioned before, historically, mental health practitioners viewed Satanism as a cause or consequence of mental illness (Clark, 1994; Speltz, 1990; Wheeler et al., 1988), with a treatment goal of removing the client from Satanic practices and their Satanic community (Belitz & Schacht, 1992; Steck et al., 1992). However, according to Richards and Bergin (2005), a religiously competent therapist would seek to use religiously-based interventions that align with the client’s religious beliefs if it is determined such interventions would be therapeutically beneficial and achieve treatment goals. Additionally, the moderation analyses from Sprankle et al. (in press) indicated that Satanists with depressive symptoms could benefit from “leaning into” their Satanist beliefs, practices, and community as a way to reduce depression.