Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress 2023 EHA Congress 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on sleep in brain health

LIVE: Thursday 2nd May 2024, 18:00-19:30 (CEST)

Quality sleep is essential for health. But what happens to our brains when sleep patterns are disturbed? Join our experts to explore the interplay between sleep disruption and neurological diseases, and the questions that you need to be asking your patients to help you prevent the harmful effects of sleep deprivation.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Journal of Religion and Health
Published in: Journal of Religion and Health 1/2017

01-02-2017 | Original Paper

Doctors Who Integrate Spirituality and CAM in the Clinic: The Puerto Rican Case

Authors: Jesús Soto-Espinosa, Joan D. Koss-Chioino

Published in: Journal of Religion and Health | Issue 1/2017

Login to get access

Abstract

This article describes Puerto Rican physicians’ personal and clinical utilization of complementary and alternative medicines (CAM), its effects, and use as they identified as either Spiritist, spiritual or religious. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 74 doctors in Puerto Rico. Major themes and relationships among them were charted using the qualitative data analysis program MAXQDA, open coding and grounded theory. Thirty-one doctors spoke of CAM and its use as related to their spiritual or religious perspectives. Spiritual or Spiritist doctors were more inclined than religious doctors to utilize CAM. Seeking closer relationships with patients was related to a spiritually oriented goal of healing (as distinct from curing) as a reason to recommend CAM.
Literature
Aizpurúa, J. (2013). Fundamentals of spritism. Printed by CreateSpace.
Astrow, A. B., Puchalski, C. M., & Sulmasy, D. P. (2001). Religion, spirituality and health care: Social, ethical, and practical considerations. American Journal of Medicine, 110(283), 287.
Bussing, A., Hirdes, A. T., Baumann, K., Hvidt, N. C., & Heusser, P. (2013). Aspects of spirituality in medical doctors and their relation to specific views of illness and dealing with their patients’ individual situation. Evidence Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2013(734392), 10.
Craigie, F. C., & Hobbs, R. F. (1999). Spiritual perspectives and practices of family physicians with an expressed interest in spirituality. Family Medicine, 31(8), 578–585.PubMed
Curlin, F. A., Rasinski, K. A., Kaptchuk, T. J., Emanuel, E. J., Miller, F. G., & Tilburt, J. C. (2009). Religion, clinicians, and the integration of complementary and alternative medicines. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 15(9), 987–994.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
Curlin, F. A., Roach, C. J., Godwara-Bhat, R., Lantos, J. D. & Chin, M. H. (2005). How are religion and spirituality related to health? A study of physicians’ perspectives. Southern Medical Journal, 98(8), 761–766.CrossRefPubMed
Daaleman, T. P., & Frey, B. (1999). Spiritual and religious beliefs and practices of family physicians: A national survey. Journal of Family Practice, 48(2), 98–104.PubMed
Eisenberg, D. M., Davis, R. B., Ettner, S. I., Appel, S., Wilkey, S., & Van Rompay, M. (1998). Trends in alternative medicine use in the United States, 1990–1997: Results of a follow-up national survey. JAMA, 280, 1569–1575.CrossRefPubMed
Goldstein, M. S., Jaffe, D. T., Sutherland, C., & Wilson, J. (1987). Holistic physicians: Implications for the study of the medical profession. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 28, 103–119.CrossRefPubMed
Hamilton, J. L., Roemheld-Hamm, B., Young, D., Jalba, M., & DiCecco-Bloom, B. (2008). Complementary and alternative medicine in US family medicine practices: A pilot qualitative study. Alternative Therapies, 14(3), 22–27.
Holmes, S. H., Rabow, M. W., & Dibble, S. L. (2006). Screening the soul: Communication regarding spiritual concerns among primary care physicians and seriously ill patients approaching the end of life. American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, 23, 25.CrossRefPubMed
Ironson, G., Solomon, G. F., & Balbin, E. G. (2002). The Ironson–Woods spirituality/religiousness index is associated with long survival, health behaviors, less distress, and low cortisol in people with HIV/AIDS. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 24, 34–48.CrossRefPubMed
Koenig, H. G. (2007). Spirituality in patient care: Why, how when and what. Philadelphia: Templeton Press.
Koinis-Mitchell, D., McQuaid, E. L., Friedman, D., Colon, A., Soto, J., & Rivera, D. V. (2008). Latino caregivers’ beliefs about asthma: Causes, symptoms, and practices. Journal of Asthma, 45, 205–210.CrossRefPubMed
Koss-Chioino, J. D., & Soto-Espinosa, J. (2013). Science and spirituality in the clinic: Medical doctors in Puerto Rico. Diversity and Equality in Health and Care, 10, 155–164.
Lucchetti, G., Granero-Lucchetti, A. L., Bassi, R. M., & Severino-Nobre, M. R. (2011). Complementary spiritist therapy: Systematic review of scientific evidence. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2011(835945), 18.
Post, S. G., Puchalski, C. M., & Larson, D. B. (2000). Physicians and patient spirituality: Professional boundaries, competency and ethics. Annals of Internal Medicine, 132(7), 578–583.CrossRefPubMed
Puchalski, C. M. (2006). A time for listening and caring. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRef
Puchalski, C. M., Blatt, B., Kogan, M., & Butler, A. (2014). Spirituality and health: The development of a field. Academic Medicine, 89(1), 10–16.CrossRefPubMed
Sawni, R., & Tomas, R. (2007). Pediatricians’ attitudes, experience and referral patterns regarding complementary/alternative medicine: A national survey. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 7, 18.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
Spiritist Medical Association of the USA. (2012). United States Spiritist Medical Association. Accessed on February 23, 2015 from www.​sma-us.​org.
Ventola, L. C. (2010a). Current issues regarding complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in the United States. Part 1: The widespread use of CAM and the need for better informed health care professionals to provide patient counseling. P&T, 35(10), 461–468.
Ventola, L. C. (2010b). Current issues regarding complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in the United States. Part 3: Policies and practices regarding dietary supplements in health care facilities. P&T, 35(10), 570–576.
Metadata
Title
Doctors Who Integrate Spirituality and CAM in the Clinic: The Puerto Rican Case
Authors
Jesús Soto-Espinosa
Joan D. Koss-Chioino
Publication date
01-02-2017
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Journal of Religion and Health / Issue 1/2017
Print ISSN: 0022-4197
Electronic ISSN: 1573-6571
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-016-0198-7

Other articles of this Issue 1/2017

Journal of Religion and Health 1/2017 Go to the issue

Original Paper

Finding Spirits in Spirituality: What are We Measuring in Spirituality and Health Research?

Original Paper

Reliability and Validity of the Spiritual Care-Giving Scale in a Turkish Population

Original Paper

Assessment of Health-Related Quality of Life Among Caregivers of Patients with Cancer Diagnosis: A Cross-Sectional Study in Saudi Arabia

Original Paper

What Mediates the Relationship Between Religious Service Attendance and Aspects of Well-Being?

Original Paper

Unbelievable?! Theistic/Epistemological Viewpoint Affects Religion–Health Relationship

Original Paper

The Effect of Holy Qur’an Recitation on Depressive Symptoms in Hemodialysis Patients: A Randomized Clinical Trial