An investigation into the phenomena and practices of spiritual ...

health professionals and spiritual healers have to be repeated to effect continuoushealing throughout life until what may be regarded as the ultimate healing of death.Models of health-seeking behaviour now present a broader view of human behaviourthan Parsons‟ (1975) model of illness behaviour and the sic role. Worreoften reluctant to adopt the sick role as they find it difficult to withdraw from theirsocial roles of mothering and domestic tasks. Many church attenders, probably becausethey are mostly women, are also reluctant to adopt the sick role if it involveswithdrawal from their duty of attending church. Those who are forced to withdraw byway of hospital admission or are house-bound are remembered during church serviceswith prayer requests for healing.Churches and worship services provide an environment where people can seek healing.They may accept a diagnosis or a label from a health professional for their deviationfrom optimum health as they know it but they do not necessarily accept the patient role.According to Parsons, this involves the person actively seeking medical treatmentwithout taking advantage of the sick role. That is, the patient does not always withdrawfrom their social roles. In seeking spiritual healing the person exhibits a similarapproach to that of the person who does not withdraw from their social role but willengage in the additional health enhancing behaviour that health promotion theoristsdiscuss.The health promotion approach adopted in this thesis does not wholly do away withParsons‟ (1975) sicole theory as a description of how and why people behave inmodern industrial society when they are sick. Although it is incomplete, we have seen314