Impact of childhood cancer on religious life of Korean families |
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| Authors: | PAUL V. MARTINSON PhD IDA M. MARTINSON RN PhD FAAN SUSIE KIM RN PhD |
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| Affiliation: | Professor of World Religions, Luther Seminary, St Paul, Minnesota, USA;Professor, Department of Family Health Care Nursing, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA;Professor, School of Nursing, Ewha Woman's University, Seoul, South Korea |
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| Abstract: | This paper reports on the social and personal relevance of religious faith entering into the situation of family stress due to the illness of a child with cancer. The expectations of religious faith may include, objectively, the actual physical healing of the child or the determination of the child's fate; it may include, subjectively, the hope for emotional support, the provision of moral guidance in time of difficulty, or an overarching life-view. There were major religious changes in 20% of the families. While all the major religious faiths in South Korea were represented in the study, 61% of the sample identified Christianity as their primary religious response. |
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| Keywords: | childhood cancer religious faith family stress |
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