Citation

Roxberg A, Barbosa da Silva A. J. Relig. Health 2014; 53(4): 1257-1266.

Affiliation

School of Health, Care and Social Welfare, Mälardalen University, Västerås/Eskilstuna, Sweden, asa.roxberg@lnu.se.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, Academy of Religion and Mental Health, Publisher Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10943-013-9815-x

PMID

24442721

Abstract

The purpose of this theoretical article is to discuss the existential and universal feature of suffering-as illustrated by Job's suffering in the Book of Job in the Bible and by the survivors of the 2004 Asian tsunami catastrophe-and to highlight its significance for health care. Further, the study is aiming at contributing to health professionals' understanding of patients' suffering. The sources are narratives, comprising Job's book, TV interviews 1 year after the tsunami catastrophe and the survivors' autobiographies. The methodological approach is a philosophical analysis. The existential, universal, ontological and epistemological aspects of suffering are carefully scrutinized to unveil the universal and existential versus culture-specific features of suffering. Based on the results, the authors' recommendations are (1) a holistic concept of the patient and health care has to seriously consider suffering in all its complexity because when a person is in pain, it is not his/her body but the whole person as a unity of body, psyche and spirit that suffers and (2) suffering should be seen as the most central concept of health care, which should provide treatment for physical pain and all dimensions of suffering: physical, social, mental and spiritual aspects.

Language: en