Communicating Spirituality in Healthcare: A Case Study on the Role of Identity in Religious Health Testimonies

摘要

This case study analyzed religious health testimonies for how testifiers used religion to maintain their health. The testimonies of one denomination, Christian Science, were analyzed for themes that characterized the interactions between testifiers and Christian Science practitioners, those enlisted to pray with testifiers. Testimonies from two periodicals across two years (2008-2009) were analyzed (N = 225) and six themes were uncovered: practitioners' provision of relief, love and reassurance; affirming a conception of God and spiritual law; affirming one's spiritual identity, delegitimizing disease and injury; attaining a spiritual based understanding about health; and expressing love and gratitude. Testifiers also identified breakthrough insights they believed helped restore their health. Comparative research on religious testimonies may help explicate how communication facilitates the spirituality-health connection.