The revolution in communication and information technology has ushered in a new era in media, also known as ‘new media’, where its presence is inextricably linked to computer-mediated and internet-based communication devices. One such new media technology is the emergence of the social media platform Instagram. Recently, Instagram has expanded its features to make the platform more comprehensive and enjoyable for its users. This trend has transformed social media into a new space for interaction and communication, attracting individuals and even communities to engage within it. One such community on Instagram is the Hijabografi community. This is a community that utilises graphic design as a medium to convey its message. In their Instagram posts, the Hijabografi community consistently features images of Muslim women wearing the hijab. The Hijabografi community has a specific aim in presenting this imagery. Ideas and concepts regarding Muslim women can be found in their Instagram posts. Indirectly, the Hijabografi account constructs an image of Muslim women in the digital space, where values concerning Muslim women are displayed. This study aims to uncover the signs within the posted images and to understand how Muslim women are represented on the Hijabografi Instagram account. The use of language in the form of images, words, sequences, narratives and so on, in Hijabografi’s Instagram posts, represents its perspective on Muslim women. To uncover the representation of Muslim women, Roland Barthes’s semiotics was employed; in his theory, Barthes examines meaning or symbols in language or signs, which are divided into two levels of significance—the denotative and connotative levels—as well as other aspects of signification, namely myth. From the seventeen hijab-wearing Instagram posts analysed, it was revealed that Muslim women possess piety, equality, freedom, strength, intelligence and independence, and these posts demonstrate three representations of Muslim women: firstly, the hijab as a symbol of Muslim women’s religious faith; secondly, the equality of Muslim women and Muslim men; and thirdly, the relationship between the roles of Muslim women and men. Overall, the conclusion regarding the representation of Muslim women on hijab-wearing Instagram accounts is that Muslim women are pious, noble, intelligent and active.

Attitudes toward life and death often shift during the perinatal period. However, previous research has been qualitative or cross-sectional, leaving longitudinal patterns largely unexplored. This study examined changes in attitudes toward life and death among Japanese women from pregnancy to eight months postpartum. A total of 1,464 women completed an online questionnaire assessing sociodemographic variables and attitudes toward life and death, and 496 completed the same questionnaire approximately three months later. Linear mixed-effects models indicated modest but significant increases in Fear of Death and Concern for Others after Death across the perinatal transition. Analyses restricted to participants who completed both surveys yielded similar results. These associations remained after adjustment for age, educational attainment, religious faith, and bereavement experience. The findings suggest that the transition to motherhood may be associated with shifts in specific attitudes toward life and death, particularly Fear of Death and Concern for Others after Death.

Nipah virus (NiV) causes recurrent outbreaks in Bangladesh with high mortality and persistent health consequences among survivors. As outbreak detection and clinical management improve, the number of survivors is likely to increase, creating an urgent need for long-term clinical, psychosocial, and rehabilitation support. To explore the lived experience of NiV survivors in Bangladesh and how physical, psychological, social, and economic challenges shape life after acute illness. We conducted a qualitative study with a phenomenological orientation among 27 adult NiV survivors in Bangladesh. Survivors were purposively selected to capture variation in sex, age, exposure route, years since illness, and severity of acute disease. Where survivors had substantial communication difficulties or limited recall of the acute illness, caregivers provided supplementary contextual information on illness and recovery. In-person, semi-structured interviews were conducted in May 2022. Data were analysed inductively using reflexive thematic analysis with analyst triangulation to enhance credibility. Participants were interviewed between 2 and 21 years after illness. Survivors described persistent functional limitations, including fatigue, mobility and balance problems, headaches, and visual changes, as well as cognitive and emotional difficulties, including memory problems, irritability, sleep disturbance, and anxiety. These challenges altered daily routines, self-perception, and expectations for the future. Survivors also described stigma and fear of contagion in healthcare and community settings, which restricted social participation, education, and marriage prospects. Households experienced substantial economic hardship through income loss, borrowing, mortgaging land, and sale of assets to pay for treatment and recovery. Coping responses included practical adjustments and reliance on family support and religious faith, although many participants reported ongoing uncertainty about health, livelihoods, and the future. Survivorship after Nipah virus infection in Bangladesh involves continuing functional, cognitive, psychosocial, and economic hardship that extends well beyond acute recovery. Priority actions include survivor-centred rehabilitation, brief mental health support, and counselling for caregivers on safe care practices. Stigma-sensitive risk communication and targeted financial support should also be integrated into existing Nipah surveillance and response systems.

Building on the literature on factors structuring left–right orientations in both postcommunist European and new Asian democracies, this study explores the applicability of this spatial schema in Mongolia. Newly available survey data are used to examine the relevance of five dimensions: regime preference; economics; culture; religion; and nationalism. Empirical analysis shows that acceptance of gender equality is associated with the left, while those stressing personal religious faith identify with the right. Contrary to the conventional literature, approval of competition is linked with the left. In addition, a substantive rural–urban divide is found, with city dwellers leaning towards the right.

Wrongful convictions continue to occur at high rates. Research has revealed that negative posttraumatic cognitive changes are a risk factor for the development and maintenance of posttraumatic stress disorder, yet little research has examined whether exonerees experience posttraumatic cognitive changes, such as changes to their worldview. Thus, this study aims to understand exonerees' self-reported life changes and worldview changes through the lens of the Shattered Assumptions Theory. Fifty-eight exonerees answered four open-ended questions about changes they experienced following their wrongful conviction, including changes to their worldview. Thematic analysis was used to identify themes. Exonerees reported a variety of positive (42.8%) and negative (78.5%) life changes, including changes to their worldview. The most commonly reported negative worldview changes included loss of faith in the legal system, people, and authority figures. Positive worldview changes included strengthened religious faith, learning that people are willing to help, and learning to control one's attitude and focus on the positive. Results identified commonly reported worldview changes in exonerees, many of which are consistent with the Shattered Assumptions Theory. These findings from the largest qualitative sample of exonerees provides preliminary evidence for areas to be targeted in cognitive therapy in exonerees.

Family is often the first place where a person’s gender identity is noticed, questioned, accepted, or resisted. For transgender individuals, family relationships can be sources of care, control, and emotional harm at the same time. Drawing on in-depth narrative interviews with 19 transgender women in Pakistan, this study explores how family rejection, conditional acceptance, and alternative kinship formations are experienced and narrated. Using a narrative qualitative approach, the analysis foregrounds participants’ stories with parents, siblings, and extended relatives, highlighting mothers as emotional protectors, fathers as authority figures shaped by honor and stigma, brothers as enforcers of gender conformity, sisters as occasional quiet supporters, and extended kin as sources of surveillance, distance, or selective support. The findings reveal that family rejection is rarely absolute; instead, it is marked by fragile, conditional forms of love shaped by gender norms, family honor, economic dependency, and social surveillance. In the absence of sustained familial support, participants describe turning to transgender communities, guru–chela relationships (mentor-disciple family-like bonds), and religious faith as important sources of comfort, hope, and emotional survival. By centering the experiences of transgender women in a Global South, Muslim-majority context, this study contributes to LGBTQ+ family scholarship by showing that acceptance and rejection often exist together, and that family remains emotionally important even when relationships are painful, distant, or broken.

Death obsession is a common phenomenon in many societies. Adults may be more susceptible to death obsession compared to children and adolescents. However, death obsession in adults is not yet fully understood. This study investigates the relationship between religious faith, resilient mindset, resilience, presence of meaning in life, self-esteem, and death obsession in adults in Türkiye. This study was conducted with a total of 769 participants (Mage = 22.29, SD = 5.09). The results show that death obsession is negatively correlated to religious faith, resilient mindset, resilience, presence of meaning in life, and self-esteem. Mediation analysis has shown that resilient mindset, resilience, presence of meaning in life, and self-esteem mediate the relationship between religious faith and death obsession. All these findings have been discussed considering Terror Management Theory (TMT), and potential implications have been suggested.

ABSTRACT Special education teachers (SETs) provide critical care and developmentally-promoting environments for young children with disabilities. Crisis situations, such as war, can amplify SETs’ challenging work and harm their well-being. Grounded in Bronfenbrenner’s bio-ecological systems model, this study utilised a quantitative survey to examine how SETs’ psychological capital (PsyCap) and occupational self-efficacy ([OSE] microsystem), and social support (mesosystem) would predict their well-being in the context of the Iron Swords war in Israel (macrosystem), along with qualitative open-ended responses to explore SETs’ coping mechanisms. Participants were 282 female SETs (143 preschool, 139 elementary school) who completed self-report questionnaires and an open question. PsyCap, OSE, and social support significantly predicted SETs’ well-being. Teachers highlighted personal resources, social support, and professional aspects as key components for coping, with various subthemes emerging. Integrating both strands, the study illuminates how personal, social, and cultural systems dynamically interact to sustain SETs’ well-being during wartime.

The cholera epidemic has remained a recurring public health challenge globally, across Africa, and in Zambia. This study aims to identify the gap between cultural and religious beliefs and practices and public health initiatives in cholera control, as well as to propose strategies for bridging this mitigation gap in response to the 2023–2025 cholera epidemic in Zambia. A qualitative case study design was employed, focusing on Lusaka District as the epicenter of the epidemic. The study involved 15 participants, consisting of five health workers, five religious leaders, and five community members from selected cholera-affected areas in Lusaka. Data were analyzed using the cultural theory of risk and religious coping theory. The findings indicate that cultural beliefs and practices, including communal eating, drinking, and gatherings as cultural observances, contributed to the spread of cholera. Religious beliefs and practices, such as reliance on healing through prayer over recommended medical treatment, the use of traditional medicine, and funeral rites involving the washing of corpses, also hindered efforts to combat the cholera epidemic in Lusaka District. The study concludes that addressing cholera requires stronger alignment between public health interventions and the cultural and religious contexts of affected communities. It recommends that religious organizations, faith communities, and health agencies work collaboratively to promote positive attitudes and behaviors that support epidemic mitigation. The study contributes by developing a Culture-Health Action-Based Framework to guide more culturally responsive and religion-sensitive cholera mitigation efforts.

Religious syncretism is the fusing of traditional religion with the practices of imported religions. It is common in Yorubaland and particularly in Ilisan community, the focus of this paper. Blending of religious faiths in Ilisan is seen as a norm and served as a centripetal force, and reflect both the town’s historical continuity and its adaptive responses to cultural change. The fusion of Yoruba traditional religion with Christianity and Islam emerged from deeply-rooted cultural imperatives, practical socio-economic strategies, and missionary dynamics. Far from undermining religious convictions, this pluralistic practice enriches the lives of the people of Ilisan, offering them multiple pathways to meaning, healing, and hope. Syncretism in this area has engendered peace, and the willingness of leaders to hold interfaith forums reflects a model of peaceful coexistence that could serve as a blueprint for other religiously diverse communities in Nigeria and beyond. This paper, through comprehensive interviews of elders in the town, highlights a deeper history of Ilisan in regard to syncretism with a new perspective. Pastors, Islamic clerics, or custodians of traditional shrines act as bridges among belief systems, guiding their communities toward coexistence through mutual respect, dialogue, and coordinated practices. Primary and secondary sources such as indepth interviews, books, journal articles, and internet materials were used for this research. The work argues that the hybridization of different religious faiths in Ilisan is not viewed as a contradiction but as communal completeness.

The article explores the complex interrelationship between religious faith, the personality of the ruler, and the nature of power. Through the prism of the Christian worldview and historical examples — from biblical prophets and kings to modern statesmen — the work examines how faith and moral principles influence political decision-making and the legitimacy of power. The key thesis of the article is that genuine and sustainable power should be based not on a lust for power, but on service — both to society and to higher ethical and religious ideals. The authors emphasize that the attitude of power towards people is essentially an attitude towards God, and that true leadership requires a readiness for sacrifice and self-giving. The figure of Andrey Belousov is presented as a contemporary example of such a synthesis of competence and profound personal faith. The article also provides an analysis of historical and biblical narratives illustrating the mechanisms of divine intervention in governance and the accountability of rulers to a supreme moral law.

To synthesize evidence on spirituality in patients with head and neck cancer (HNC), focusing on its dimensions, assessment strategies, and impact on health outcomes. A comprehensive search of PubMed, Embase, LILACS, Web of Science, Scopus, and gray literature identified qualitative and quantitative studies explicitly addressing spirituality in HNC. Eligible sources were narratively synthesized. Twenty-one studies met inclusion criteria. Core spiritual dimensions included the search for meaning, inner peace, religious faith, and a positive outlook. Six studies reported associations between spirituality and improved quality of life (QoL), while three described enhanced coping capacity and emotional resilience. Religious faith, irrespective of denomination, was associated with better pain management, fewer treatment-related side effects, lower existential distress, and, in some studies, improved survival outcomes. The Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-being Scale was the most frequently applied instrument, assessing beliefs, meaning, and inner peace. Spirituality was frequently associated with coping capacity, psychological adjustment, and QoL in patients with HNC. Integrating spiritual care into holistic oncology practice may enhance treatment adherence, resilience, and patient well-being.

In Africa, where the majority of the population identifies with a religious faith—primarily Christianity and Islam—religious leaders often play an important role in community conflict resolution. However, context-specific practices remain insufficiently documented. This study employed an ethnographic survey to examine the practices of religious leaders in community conflict resolution in Mtwara–Mikindani Municipality in southern Tanzania. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions involving 15 purposively selected participants, including religious leaders, community representatives, and local government officials. The findings indicate that religious leaders actively mediate family disputes, land and inheritance conflicts, and youth-related quarrels by applying scripture, prayer, dialogue, and moral persuasion. Their accessibility and deep integration within community life position them as trusted first responders to disputes. However, despite their critical role, most religious leaders lack formal training in mediation and are not formally recognised within local government conflict resolution structures. The study recommends formal recognition of religious leaders within municipal conflict management frameworks, the provision of capacity-building programs in mediation and peacebuilding, and strengthened interfaith collaboration and partnerships with government and civil society organisations to enhance sustainable community peace

In an earlier article in this journal, the author posed the question of whether leaving God to make the choice was an answer to a charge of murder by reckless indifference to human life. The earlier article explored the ramifications of importing into s 302(1)(aa) of the Criminal Code 1899 (Qld) the common law subjective test for reckless murder of an act or omission committed with an awareness that death would probably arise from that act or omission, where the defendant’s awareness is affected by a religious belief that his or her religious faith required God to make the decision of life or death. In the wake of the not guilty of murder verdict handed down in a bench trial by Justice Martin Burns in The King v Struhs [2025] QSC 10, where his Honour found there was a reasonable possibility Jason Struhs never came to a full realisation his eight-year old daughter Elizabeth would probably die from his withdrawal of her insulin because, in the cloistered atmosphere of the Church which enveloped him, Jason Struhs believed instead God would not allow that to happen, it is timely to revisit the common law subjective test for reckless murder. In this article, the author respectfully contends that the judgment of Burns J is so narrow and restrictive in its interpretation of awareness, given the slow and agonising death Elizabeth suffered over five days as her body collapsed under diabetic ketoacidosis, as to effectively equate intention in s 302(1)(a) with recklessness in s 302(1)(aa), thereby rendering s 302(1)(aa) otiose. The author further argues that the precedent set by Burns J in The King v Struhs, in incorporating a belief in a God into the subjective test for murder by reckless indifference to human life, should be statutorily overruled through the adoption of an objective test of recklessness which would legislatively establish a clear divide between intention and reckless indifference to human life.

Present research aims to study the representation of Islamic faith as portrayed in a Pakistani female fiction writer Bapsi Sidhwa’s two novels: Ice Candy Man and The Bride. For this, the study follows Pierre Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice which includes habitus, capital and field. The study focuses on the representation of Islamic faith and application of Islamic virtues during socialisation of men and women as practiced in a Muslim society. Following textual analysis method , the study finds out that the habitus of agents from both novels is socialised according to their religious faith viz. Islam. Society practices different rules based on agents’ faith which mainly shows the influence of their capital and field. The habitus makes agents’ dispositions which are socialised and are strongly documented in their daily practices as Muslims.

This article examines gender differences in how homicide offenders experience and overcome suicidal thoughts in prison. Thirteen persons convicted of murder, both male and female, participated in in-depth interviews conducted using a semi-structured guide. The qualitative data were analysed through thematic analysis. The findings indicate that while some inmates experience suicidal ideation due to the harsh prison conditions and the extended duration of their sentences, others reported never having suicidal thoughts. This resilience was attributed to factors such as religious faith, concern for their families, participation in religious activities during incarceration, and guidance received from fellow inmates and prison staff. While some participants felt guilty and remorseful for their actions, others were unapologetic. The identified themes were closely interconnected, offering novel insights into the factors that help prisoners overcome suicidal ideation. The theoretical implication of the findings assumes that the internalisation of a homicide label can drive behavioural change, especially when offenders engage in self-reflection and assess their actions through the lens of societal judgment.

Breast cancer not only affects patients but also profoundly impacts their spouses, particularly within the context of Pakistan’s nuclear family structures and traditional gender norms. This qualitative study aimed to explore the emotional and social challenges experienced by husbands of women undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer. Specifically, the study examined psychological distress, shifts in marital and family roles, coping strategies, and the influence of cultural expectations on emotional expression. A purposive sample of eight participants, aged 40–50 years and married for over 20 years, was recruited. All participants resided in nuclear family systems and had at least one child under the age of 18. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews conducted in Urdu, transcribed verbatim, and analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). The findings revealed several key themes, including initial emotional shock and ongoing psychological distress following diagnosis, persistent feelings of loneliness, caregiving burden, and significant shifts in marital and parenting roles. Participants frequently reported suppressing their emotional needs due to sociocultural expectations surrounding masculinity. Coping strategies included reliance on religious faith, social withdrawal, engagement in routine activities, and, in some cases, maladaptive behaviours such as increased smoking. Financial strain emerged as a consistent stressor despite partial healthcare support, while limited social support further contributed to isolation. The study highlights that spouses of breast cancer patients in Pakistan experience substantial yet often unrecognized emotional and social burdens. These findings underscore the need for culturally sensitive psychosocial interventions that include spouses within cancer care frameworks.

ABSTRACT Lukkayito jayga (‘hidden place’ according to respondents) and oitijjobahi sthan (‘heritage’ sites) in Bangladesh are terms used to talk about places characterized by the Sufi saints and pirs tradition, which can be intended here as pluralistic cultural and religious practices created by the fusion of two or more religious or socio-cultural influences. Those Sufi-related sites function as inward, protective spaces of devotion, even while remaining publicly known and culturally embedded. These Sufi-traditions developed since the 13th Century, most prominently through and along with Sufi saints (darbesh) and pirs. These hidden places of Sufi traditions constitute what I call here a ‘secret’ heritage, which is derived from the discussion with the visitors/participants of those sites, that has long been a source of inspiration and a way of life for many people in Bangladesh, regardless of their religious, cultural, or traditional faith. Against the backdrop of the progressive erosion of secularism and concomitant Islamisation of Bangladeshi democratic practices and society over the last few decades, this article asks: How do people, particularly those with conservative Islamic ideology, negotiate their entrenched faith in such a ‘secret’ heritage? Building on ethnographic research in Chattogram, a southeastern part of Bangladesh and an area marked by increased conservatism, the article argues that Sufi traditions remain prominent and constitute a ‘secret’ heritage among the visitors. My research revolved around two Sufi shrines (dargah/mazar), the Bayezid Bostami and Maizbhandar Darbar Sharif, based on Maizbhandari tariqa (path or order), and involved observation, informal interviews with Muslim and Hindu women and men, individual and group visitors aged between 20 and 80, and in-depth interviews with religious leaders of Hefazat-e-Islam, particularly from Hathazari madrasa, which is also called a Qwami madrasa, a Deobandi system of Islamic education. From my ethnographic insights, the persistence of a strong Sufi presence and its influence on socio-cultural traditions in Islam owes much to the historical context and the entrenchment of multiple forms of secular practices. These factors enable various religious groups to practice religious tolerance and harmony, preserving the country's cultural heritage for their personal beliefs and practices.

Breast cancer remains a global concern as the most common diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancer death among women. In Sub-Saharan Africa, although breast cancer accounts for the highest burden of mortality in women, there is little documentation on the experience of living with breast cancer. This article explores the lived experiences of a group of Ghanaian women receiving breast cancer treatment at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and the National Radiotherapy, Oncology and Nuclear Medicine Center in Ghana. The findings presented here, are drawn from a broader mixed methods study on breast cancer and fertility preservation that employed an explanatory sequential design. This article focuses on the qualitative phase of this work. A total of fifteen women were purposively sampled to take part in semi-structured interviews, following their participation in the quantitative phase of the study. The semi-structured interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analysed using Braun and Clarkes analysis framework. The diagnosis of breast cancer constituted a pivotal point in the lives of these women. This precipitated an acute focus on survival and triggered a cascade of initial psychological responses, including catastrophic thinking and an overwhelming preoccupation with mortality and worst-case scenarios, eliciting anxiety and sadness. The ramifications of cancer treatment further exacerbated the emotional and physical toll, manifesting in a myriad of challenges, including reproductive health concern, impaired daily functioning, diminished social, occupational, and educational performance. Despite this life-altering circumstance, some participants demonstrated adaptive coping as they navigated the recovery trajectory, utilizing coping strategies largely influenced by personal choice, religious faith, trusted social support networks, and medical expertise. The women’s narratives highlight a journey of recovery characterized by initial grief reactions, acceptance, adaptation, and the hope of recovery. Religious beliefs and social connections played vital roles in the recovery process, underscoring the need to incorporate these into existing service delivery care models. By amplifying the voices and experiences of women living with breast cancer, we can culturally inform routine services and targeted strategies to enhance support, education, and resources for individuals and communities affected by breast cancer in Ghana.

Meredith —born thirteen years after Trollope, sixteen after Dickens, seventeen after Thackeray and eighteen after Mrs Gaskell — was, in every way, signaling a new direction for the novel. The difficulty of maintaining religious faith became inevitable as the ‘New Sciences’ influenced Victorian People. At the same time, the failure of economic prosperity in the 1870 and the collapse of the One Nation ideal stood as walls in front of the belief to see the world as a benign place. Like George Eliot before him and Henry James after, Meredith’s notion was to involve himself with the problems of other people in the society and this gave his characters a kind of organic growth which would be counter-poised against bland conformism to the norm-bound societal field. The gradual evolution of a new species of woman, intellectually alert and active, became a golden key of his novels as Meredith equipped them with wit, talent and readiness to face the problems of this male-dominated society. He was the high priest of comic spirit, had been an accomplished delineator of female psyche. Like a psychoanalyst, he could delve deep into “Woman Question.” His novels were ample testimony to it. Certain feminist ideas can be detected in meditation and philosophy. His feminism is essentially rooted in the contemporary evolutionary theory of Darwin, Spencer and Comte. Meredith had great faith in the gradual evolution of a new species of women, intellectually alert and active. This new woman or Superwoman would be ready to face the myriad problems of the human society, dominated by male egoism and autocracy. The Victorian England was the happiness of the egoists and snobs. Women were treated as “dolls” in their hands. They found no way or route to emancipation. Meredith equipped them with wit, intellect and readiness to face the problems of these male-dominated society That comic spirit is great boon to feminism. Indeed, comedy for Meredith is a golden key to the gradual social economic and political emancipation of women. It is a close friend of women. It is also the yardstick of civilization to indicate the status and position of women.