Religiosity as a Cultural Resource for Arab-Palestinian Women’s Coping with Cancer

Drawing on the discourse analysis of 36 in-depth interviews, this qualitative study explores how Arab-Palestinian women cope with breast cancer and ascribe meaning to their illness within the local religious and traditional cultural context. In particular, the study shows that religious beliefs and...

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Main Authors: Mona I. A. Almuhtaseb, Francesca Alby, Cristina Zucchermaglio, Marilena Fatigante
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2020-01-01
Series:SAGE Open
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244019898730
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author Mona I. A. Almuhtaseb
Francesca Alby
Cristina Zucchermaglio
Marilena Fatigante
author_facet Mona I. A. Almuhtaseb
Francesca Alby
Cristina Zucchermaglio
Marilena Fatigante
author_sort Mona I. A. Almuhtaseb
collection DOAJ
description Drawing on the discourse analysis of 36 in-depth interviews, this qualitative study explores how Arab-Palestinian women cope with breast cancer and ascribe meaning to their illness within the local religious and traditional cultural context. In particular, the study shows that religious beliefs and practices help Arab-Palestinian women to handle emotional and psychological difficulties while perpetuating traditional cultural norms of concealment. Two main functions of religiosity as a coping resource are analyzed by (a) managing distress and identity crisis and (b) changing the meaning of the illness experience. In this sociocultural context, the practice of religious rituals provides cancer patients with an effective and culturally situated instrument for coping with a deep existential crisis. Practical implications of the study are discussed in the conclusions.
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spelling doaj.art-f9ad97df9d6c48e9b9641231c1dd8a562022-12-21T18:19:02ZengSAGE PublishingSAGE Open2158-24402020-01-011010.1177/2158244019898730Religiosity as a Cultural Resource for Arab-Palestinian Women’s Coping with CancerMona I. A. Almuhtaseb0Francesca Alby1Cristina Zucchermaglio2Marilena Fatigante3Department of Social and Developmental Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, ItalyDepartment of Social and Developmental Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, ItalyDepartment of Social and Developmental Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, ItalyDepartment of Social and Developmental Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, ItalyDrawing on the discourse analysis of 36 in-depth interviews, this qualitative study explores how Arab-Palestinian women cope with breast cancer and ascribe meaning to their illness within the local religious and traditional cultural context. In particular, the study shows that religious beliefs and practices help Arab-Palestinian women to handle emotional and psychological difficulties while perpetuating traditional cultural norms of concealment. Two main functions of religiosity as a coping resource are analyzed by (a) managing distress and identity crisis and (b) changing the meaning of the illness experience. In this sociocultural context, the practice of religious rituals provides cancer patients with an effective and culturally situated instrument for coping with a deep existential crisis. Practical implications of the study are discussed in the conclusions.https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244019898730
spellingShingle Mona I. A. Almuhtaseb
Francesca Alby
Cristina Zucchermaglio
Marilena Fatigante
Religiosity as a Cultural Resource for Arab-Palestinian Women’s Coping with Cancer
SAGE Open
title Religiosity as a Cultural Resource for Arab-Palestinian Women’s Coping with Cancer
title_full Religiosity as a Cultural Resource for Arab-Palestinian Women’s Coping with Cancer
title_fullStr Religiosity as a Cultural Resource for Arab-Palestinian Women’s Coping with Cancer
title_full_unstemmed Religiosity as a Cultural Resource for Arab-Palestinian Women’s Coping with Cancer
title_short Religiosity as a Cultural Resource for Arab-Palestinian Women’s Coping with Cancer
title_sort religiosity as a cultural resource for arab palestinian women s coping with cancer
url https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244019898730
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