Conference Proceedings - School of Nursing & Midwifery - Trinity ...

School of Nursing & Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin: 8 th Annual Interdisciplinary Research Conference
Transforming Healthcare Through Research, Education & Technology: 7 th – 9 th November 2007
Conference Proceedings
to raise other issues or topics that they might have identified as
more relevant they did have the opportunity in both the
questionnaire and at the end of the focus group to draw the
researcher’s attention to them. From the tables in the previous
section, it is something of a truism to say that there is clear
evidence that health is indeed a multi-faceted concept especially for
students who are within weeks of undertaking their final exams.
As outlined in Table 1 above it is clear that respondents make a
clear distinction between ‘having a connection with God’, almost one
in two, and actual practise with slightly over one in three either
‘being able to pray’ and less than one in five physically ‘going to
church service on regularly’. The rather high rates of Unsure
indicate that for our respondents there may be some lack of clarity
regarding the link between spirituality and health. Such a
statement is borne out by some of the remarks of the focus group.
There was rather general agreement when one of the male
respondents (mental health) said that ‘there wouldn’t be as much
emphasis on it now than there was a good while ago … my parents
and …old fellows would have a big emphasis on religious beliefs
affecting health … but I think now in the changing times it is not the
most important thing for young people’. What is interesting here is
that the link is made with organised religion, specifically the
Catholic Church that was a spontaneous, though maybe natural,
response to questions about the link between spirituality and health.
When probed further by the moderator there was general
agreement that in times of illness people might become more
religious. For instance one female (mental health) pointed out that
‘at exams we go lighting candles’ while another gave the example of
an older person who was dying from cancer. She explained that a
religious relic, Padre Pio’s glove, was used in the belief that it would
either cure the person or ensure a peaceful death and that the
family were of the opinion that it was of great value to the person
who was dying. Other instances included examples from clinical
practise when a person found a ‘lump’ and had to wait for a biopsy.
During this waiting period the person ‘drank holy water every day
for two weeks and when his biopsy was carried out the lump was
gone and even the doctor couldn’t explain it at all’ (general
nursing). What is apparent in this part of the discussion is that
there was a clear link between religious beliefs and outcomes with
all of the focus group agreeing that there was something spiritual in
these examples. Of course whether religion and spirituality are one
and the same thing is a contested area but for these respondents
the link did indeed exist. The reasons why may have something to
do with the culture and strength of the Catholic Church in Ireland in
the recent past. While religion was not a variable we measured at
- 595 -