台灣與土耳其癌症兒童父母宗教因應策略的比較

Comparison of Religious Coping Strategies in Taiwanese and Turkish Parents of Children with Cancer

在本文中我們討論並比較了生活在兩種不同文化中的台灣和土耳其癌症兒童父母的宗教因應策略，以引起人們對人類經驗的宗教/靈性維度的重要性的關注。癌症是兒童疾病相關死亡和治療相關的致病率的主要原因之一，近幾十年來，癌症在全球呈上升趨勢。宗教因應是一種以與神聖相關的方式理解和處理生活壓力的努力，包括祈禱、會眾支持、教牧關懷和宗教信仰。台灣和土耳其的癌症兒童父母經常使用宗教因應方式，因為宗教對心理靈性有好處；然而，由於父母的宗教信仰和習俗不同，所使用的宗教因應策略也大不相同。大多數台灣父母的信仰是傳統民間信仰和道教，而大多數土耳其父母的信仰是伊斯蘭教。我們堅信，醫療專業人員應該認識並尊重父母的宗教和靈性需求，並鼓勵父母採用宗教因應策略。

 

In this article, we discussed and compared the religious coping strategies of Taiwanese and Turkish parents of children with cancer, living in two different cultures, in order to draw attention to the importance of the religious/spiritual dimension of human experience. Cancer is one of the leading causes of disease-related death and treatment-associated morbidity in children with an increasing trend in recent decades worldwide. Religious coping is an effort to understand and deal with life stress in ways related to the sacred, which includes prayer, congregational support, pastoral care, and religious faith. Religious coping has been frequently used by Taiwanese and Turkish parents of children with cancer because it brings psychospiritual benefits; however, the religious coping strategies used are largely different since the parents’ religious beliefs and practices are different. While the beliefs of most Taiwanese parents are traditional folk beliefs and Taoism, the belief of most Turkish parents is Islam. We strongly believe that healthcare professionals should recognize and respect parents’ religious and spiritual needs and encourage parents to use religious coping strategies.