Abstract
Interconnections between the faith-based and medical sectors are multifaceted and have existed for centuries, including partnerships that have evolved over the past several decades in the U.S. This paper outlines ten points of intersection that have engaged medical and healthcare professionals and institutions across specialties, focusing especially on primary care, global health, and community-based outreach to underserved populations. In a time of healthcare resource scarcity, such partnerships—involving religious congregations, denominations, and communal and philanthropic agencies—are useful complements to the work of private-sector medical care providers and of federal, state, and local public health institutions in their efforts to protect and maintain the health of the population. At the same time, challenges and obstacles remain, mostly related to negotiating the complex and contentious relations between these two sectors. This paper identifies pressing legal/constitutional, political/policy, professional/jurisdictional, ethical, and research and evaluation issues that need to be better addressed before this work can realize its full potential.
Highlights
It is hoped that this review will complement the Vaux article and encourage a broader discussion and analysis of the institutional linkages of religion and medicine, much as the earlier piece did for the links between personal religiousness and health status 40 years ago in Preventive Medicine
Leading institutions include the HealthCare Chaplaincy Network, founded in 1961, a New-York-based educational and research organization; the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE), founded in 1967, a multicultural and multifaith organization that publishes the Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling and accredits clinical pastoral education (CPE) programs; and the Association of Professional Chaplains, a membership society founded in 1998, with roots dating to the 1940s, which publishes the Journal of Health Care Chaplaincy
How can medical practitioners best be made aware of faith-based resources that may impact on health care or health status, for better or worse? Should practitioners even concern themselves with such things, much less patient spirituality and beliefs, even if evidence suggests a positive impact on mental or physical health?
Summary
The history of the encounter between religion and medicine is marked by contention and controversy. One of the earliest systematic efforts to map the influence of religion on the medical sphere and on human health was a classic review essay by Kenneth Vaux, published in this journal's sister publication, Preventive Medicine, 40 years ago (Vaux, 1976) This important article became a starting point for subsequent empirical research on the impact of religious beliefs and behaviors on population rates of physical and psychological morbidity and mortality. Whereas the faith-health conversation up to now has been largely about presenting and trying to interpret empirical data on the health impact of religion, there is another dimension or octave to this conversation that has been mostly neglected: the dynamic interactions between faith and medicine at an institutional level This involves relations between what could be termed the faith-based and medical sectors. It is hoped that this review will complement the Vaux article and encourage a broader discussion and analysis of the institutional linkages of religion and medicine, much as the earlier piece did for the links between personal religiousness and health status 40 years ago in Preventive Medicine
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
