Arcury T A, Quandt S A, McDonald J, Bell R A
Department of Family and Community Medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 27157-1084, USA.
J Cross Cult Gerontol. 2000;15(1):55-74. doi: 10.1023/a:1006741625617.
This analysis uses in-depth interview data collected from 145 African American, European American and Native American men and women aged 70 and older who reside in two rural North Carolina counties to understand the role of religious faith and prayer in the health self-management of these older adults. The analysis addresses three specific questions: how do these older adults use religion to help them manage their health; are there ethnic and gender differences in the use of religion; and are differences in health status related to differences in the use of religion? The integral role of religion in the lives of these older rural adults is an overarching theme present in the interview texts. Six major themes link religion and health self-management: (1) prayer and faith in health self-management, (2) reading the Bible, (3) church services, (4) mental and spiritual health, (5) stories of physical healing, and (6) ambivalence. Faith and religious activities provide an anchor in the lives of these older adults. There is little variation in the use of religion for health self-management by gender, ethnicity or health status. These results suggest that the strength of religion in rural culture may limit the effectiveness of general religiosity scales to discern the relationship of religion to health and health behavior in rural populations.
本分析使用了从居住在北卡罗来纳州两个乡村县的145名70岁及以上的非裔美国人、欧裔美国人和美国原住民男女那里收集的深入访谈数据，以了解宗教信仰和祈祷在这些老年人健康自我管理中的作用。该分析涉及三个具体问题：这些老年人如何利用宗教来帮助他们管理健康；在宗教的使用方面是否存在种族和性别差异；健康状况的差异是否与宗教使用的差异有关？宗教在这些农村老年人生活中的不可或缺的作用是访谈文本中呈现的一个首要主题。宗教与健康自我管理有六个主要联系主题：（1）健康自我管理中的祈祷和信仰，（2）阅读《圣经》，（3）教堂礼拜，（4）心理和精神健康，（5）身体康复的故事，以及（6）矛盾心理。信仰和宗教活动为这些老年人的生活提供了一种支撑。在通过性别、种族或健康状况进行健康自我管理时，宗教的使用几乎没有差异。这些结果表明，农村文化中宗教的影响力可能会限制一般宗教信仰量表在识别农村人口中宗教与健康及健康行为之间关系方面的有效性。
