Religious faith in Mexican-American families dealing with chronic childhood illness.

PURPOSE

To explore Mexican-American family experiences with chronic childhood illness, from the perspective of parents, and report findings about the influence of religious faith on families' spiritual and secular responses to illness. Mexican-Americans are often characterized as religious, fatalistic, and passive, but families' perceptions of the consequences of their daily faith and its meaning in the face of chronic childhood illness is not well understood.

DESIGN

Descriptive. The sample included 25 parents from 19 families living with children with a variety of chronic conditions. Data were collected in 1995-1996.

METHODS

Interpretive, using symbolic interaction as the framework, and in-depth interviewing for data collection.

FINDINGS

Parents professed a variety of beliefs and devotional practices. Six unifying dimensions of religious faith were related to parental caretaking and decision making for the family: (a) God determined the outcome of the child's illness, (b) God and health care for the child were closely linked, (c) parents took an active role in facilitating God's will, (d) families had obligations to God, (e) intercession with God by others was often sought by or offered to the family, and (f) faith encouraged optimism.

CONCLUSIONS

Families were not fatalistic in the sense of feeling outcomes were predetermined and unalterable. Family members took spiritual and secular actions to assure the best possible familial and professional care for their child and sought to influence God's good will on behalf of the child and family.