Given the global rise of diabetes, the low uptake of GP services and prescribed medicine among UK Chinese is worrying. Little is known about their management of symptoms, compliance with treatment and implementation of lifestyle changes inherent in living with diabetes. Even less is known about whether they use Chinese folk medicine as part of their treatment regime. This qualitative study reduces this information gap based on data collected through focus group discussions and individual interviews. Eight focus group discussions were held in Leeds, Bristol, Birmingham and London with 37 foreign-born UK Chinese participants, including patients, friends and family members. On completion of the eight focus groups, 22 semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with both foreign and British-born Chinese with diabetes. Findings from the focus groups include (i) a reluctance to accept diabetes as a chronic illness, (ii) persistence in the use of folk remedies and (iii) an absence of use of professional Chinese medicine for diabetes, with the exception of one participant. Findings from the individual interviews on ideas about diabetes were similar to those from the focus groups, with further developments in the images of diabetes. With regards to self-management regimes, different coping styles indicated high levels of anxiety and uncertainty surrounding the nature of diabetes. Use of medicine, Chinese or otherwise, was found to be linked to levels of trust and integration with the host community. Themes consistent in both phases of the study include firstly, the description of diabetes as an illness with ‘no tail’ (mouhmei/meiwei 没尾) – the tail representing an end of an illness. Secondly, the cultural practice of food abstinence (gaihhauh/jikou 戒口) was perceived to be an effective method of control and prevention of the deterioration of diabetes. Finally, the relentless search for a cure expressed as ‘cutting the tail’ (tueihmei/duanwei 段尾) was evident in all the interviews. This study highlights the difficulties experienced by ethnic groups whose folk models of illness differ from those of biomedicine. It also addresses two important issues in the management of chronic illness: coping with uncertainty and the importance of trust. These results can help inform the future planning and delivery of healthcare services for ethnic minority groups.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 255-275). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2001. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (p. 255-275).

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / The worldwide scarcity of psychiatrists makes the identification of the factors associated with the intention to choose this specialty an important issue. This study aims to evaluate the association between religious affiliation and the intention to choose psychiatry as a specialty among medical students from 11 Latin American countries. We conducted a cross-sectional, multi-country study that included first- and fifth-year students of 63 medical schools in 11 Latin-American countries between 2011 and 2012. The main outcome and measures were the intention to pursue psychiatry as a specialty over other specialties (yes/no) and religious affiliation (without: atheist/agnostic; with: any religion). A total of 8308 participants were included; 53.6% were women, and the average age was 20.4 (SD = 2.9) years. About 36% were fifth-year students, and 11.8% were not affiliated with any religion. Only 2.6% had the intention to choose psychiatry; the highest proportion of students with the intention to choose psychiatry was among students in Chile (8.1%) and the lowest among students in Mexico (1.1%). After adjusting for demographic, family, academic as well as personal and professional projection variable, we found that those who had no religious affiliation were more likely to report the intention to become a psychiatrist [OR: 2.92 (95%CI: 2.14-4.00)]. There is a strong positive association between not having a religious affiliation and the intention to become a psychiatrist. The possible factors that influence this phenomenon must be evaluated in greater depth, ideally through longitudinal research. / Revisión por pares

Paganism is a burgeoning belief system in the UK, which has received little attention from psychological researchers. Healing is a key aspect of modern Pagan practice, yet it too receives little attention from those investigating distance healing practices. Given the growth of Paganism in recent years these omissions from the literature should be addressed by researchers. This thesis investigates the healing practices of modern Paganism using a mixed methods approach across three phases. The first phase is a meta-analysis of existing non-contact healing research. There has been much research investigating the efficacy of various forms of non-contact healing which has resulted in reviews and meta-analysis which suggest that non-contact practices can have some positive effect upon the recipient’s wellbeing; however they also raise the issue of low study quality in this area. The most recent comprehensive review of this subject area was published in 2000; much more research has been published since then and the legitimacy of some previously published research has since been questioned. Also, such reviews focus on ‘whole’ human participants who might be susceptible to expectancy effects or benefit from the healing intentions of friends, family or their own religious groups. To address these issues an up to date, comprehensive meta-analysis was conducted that included healing studies that involved biological systems other than ‘whole’ humans (e.g., studies of plants or cell cultures) that were less susceptible to placebo-like effects and investigated the impact of study quality. Phase two employed interviews with practising Pagans regarding their spell casting practices. Eight Pagans from a variety of traditions were interviewed using semi structured interviews and the data were analysed using thematic analysis. Six major themes and 16 subthemes were extracted from the data and used to inform the design of phase three. Phase three is a randomised controlled trial of Pagan healing spells. The trial utilised a delayed intervention design. Various aspects of the trial design were informed by phase two interviews, such as the choice of outcome measure, the use of spell request forms, participant pictures and items, and scepticism measures.

In the history of medicine "from below," religious language has been sidelined as a convention that interfered with the expression of peoples genuine experiences and feelings. This thesis uses the autobiographical writings of three well-known seventeenth-century women, Lady Anne Halkett, Lady Ann Fanshawe, and Alice Thornton, to explore how religious language actually facilitated the expression and preservation of their illness experiences. Having suffered considerable loss during the Civil War and Interregnum, these women relied on familiar religious scripts to present their life stories, including many illness experiences, as persuasive apologies for their difficult situations as widows after the Restoration. Considering their individual expressions of thanksgiving, the good death, and balance within a broader literary context reveals the extent to which each woman not only employed but also adapted convention to suit her particular purpose for writing. The womens illness narratives must therefore be read with due attention to their religious language, and both need to be interpreted in light of how the womens particular social situations and writing habits related to the cultural conventions of their time.

In the history of medicine "from below," religious language has been sidelined as a convention that interfered with the expression of peoples genuine experiences and feelings. This thesis uses the autobiographical writings of three well-known seventeenth-century women, Lady Anne Halkett, Lady Ann Fanshawe, and Alice Thornton, to explore how religious language actually facilitated the expression and preservation of their illness experiences. Having suffered considerable loss during the Civil War and Interregnum, these women relied on familiar religious scripts to present their life stories, including many illness experiences, as persuasive apologies for their difficult situations as widows after the Restoration. Considering their individual expressions of thanksgiving, the good death, and balance within a broader literary context reveals the extent to which each woman not only employed but also adapted convention to suit her particular purpose for writing. The womens illness narratives must therefore be read with due attention to their religious language, and both need to be interpreted in light of how the womens particular social situations and writing habits related to the cultural conventions of their time.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1992.