Aim: The aim of this study was to explore the attitudes and perceptions of health care professionals to alternatives to blood transfusion for Jehovah's Witnesses patients in a critical care setting. Methodology: Quantitative and qualitative approaches were used to explore the attitudes and perceptions of health care professional to alternatives to blood transfusion, in a critical care setting. The study was conducted in four largest hospitals in the Durban Metropolitan area, of which two were public and two private. A questionnaire was used as tool for collecting data. Space was provided to accommodate comments from the respondents in the questionnaire. Analysis of findings was done quantitatively by using a computer programme called SPSS (Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences), version 11.5. Themes that emerged from the participant's responses were classified under categories in the conceptual framework and analysed qualitatively. Findings: Most of the respondents had mixed feelings about using alternatives to blood transfusion. The study revealed, however, that although alternatives to blood transfusions were commonly used in a critical care setting, some of the respondents did not know about the different types of alternatives available. Furthermore, it was evident from the respondent's comments that most of them had a positive attitude to people who refused blood transfusion and preferred alternatives. Research into suitable alternatives to blood transfusion was encouraged by most of the respondents. However, transfusion transmitted diseases emerged as a current concern over and above the religious concerns. Recommendations for the future were made for the health care professionals working in critical care setting, nurse educators and nursing management. / Thesis (M.N.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2004.

Community of Jehovah's Witnesses is a significant element of the religious landscape of the Sverdlovsk region, which had not previously conceptualized in a scientific way. In this paper, based on field research addressing various aspects of the composition of the Jehovah's Witnesses community, the history of assembly, structure, forms of action and practice. Attention is paid to the issue of public opinion, formed around the followers of the faith. Media role in the formation of a negative image of the Jehovah's Witnesses in the Sverdlovsk region is submitted. / Сообщество Свидетелей Иеговы – заметный элемент религиозного ландшафта Свердловской области, который ранее не осмыслялся в научном русле. В работе на основе материалов полевых исследований рассматриваются различные аспекты состава общин Свидетелей Иеговы, история собраний, структура, формы деятельности и практики. Уделяется внимание проблеме общественного мнения, сложившегося вокруг последователей данного вероучения. Представлена роль СМИ в формировании негативного образа Свидетелей Иеговы в Свердловской области.

La liberté religieuse est une liberté fondamentale reconnue dans les démocraties. Elle est invoquée devant la Cour européenne par des religions mais aussi par des individus. Les nouveaux cultes et leurs adeptes acquièrent des droits collectifs et individuels plus étendus. En France, des principes fondamentaux conduisent le législateur et le juge à consacrer et garantir le pluralisme religieux : toutes les croyances ont la même valeur. Chacun est libre de pratiquer sa religion en public ou en privé, notamment dans sa famille. Le juge garantit le respect de la conscience de l’individu lorsqu’il est saisi. Mais la libre pratique religieuse des membres de la famille connait certaines limites qui sont purement objectives et non fonction du type d’appartenance religieuse. Pourtant, la perception du phénomène religieux par les autorités n’est pas toujours égalitaire. Le traitement politique, social et judiciaire des religions minoritaires notamment, remet parfois en cause le pluralisme. Si l’appréciation in concreto des situations par le juge est le principe, le manque d’homogénéité de la jurisprudence, qui met en exergue certains préjugés, ajouté aux réticences des juges du droit à contrôler plus avant les motivations des juges du fonds, entament la garantie du pluralisme. Les condamnations de la Cour européenne le montrent. Les difficultés concernent notamment les questions de l’appréciation de la faute, cause de divorce, ou de l’intérêt de l’enfant. La référence à un standard, étalon d’une bonne pratique religieuse, est parfois latente. En la matière, l’analyse souveraine des juges du fond est souvent sacralisée, ce qui peut poser des difficultés, tout comme le manque d’ouverture de certains experts qui rendent des avis qui peuvent, in fine, avoir un impact fort sur le juge. L’absence de pré-majorité religieuse et l’application stricte du principe de laïcité à l’école posent aussi certains problèmes. Les solutions étrangères sont intéressantes sur ces questions. / Religious freedom is a fundamental freedom recognised by democracies. Not only religious groups, but also individuals, bring it up before the European Court. New religious groups and their members are granted more collective and individual rights. In France, fundamental principles bring legislators and judges to define and guarantee religious pluralism: all beliefs are equal. Everyone is free to practice his or her religion in public or in private, especially within the family. Judges referred to guarantee that the individual conscience will be respected. Nevertheless, the free religious practice of family members has objective limits, regardless of the religion one belongs to. Still, the way the authorities view the religious practice is not always the same. The political, social and legal treatment of minority religions in particular puts sometimes religious pluralism in question. Even if usually the judge appreciates situations in concreto, pluralism sometimes fails to be guaranteed due to a lack of homogeneity in the jurisprudence, tainted with prejudice, as well as the reticences of the ordinary judges to check more in depth the motivations of the trial judges. The condemnations of the European Courts are proof to this. The difficulties concern for the most part the appreciation of the fault, cause for divorce, or of the interest of the child. The reference to a standard of good religious practice is sometimes latent. In this matter, the expertise of the trial judges is often considered as sacred, and this can lead to some difficulties, as well as the lack of open-mindness of some experts who give opinions that can, in fine, influence the judge. The absence of religious age pre-majority and the strict application of the principle of secularism at school also pose some problems. Foreign solutions on this matter are interesting.

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