Tomalin, E orcid.org/0000-0001-7722-1192, Sadgrove, J and Summers, R (2019) Health, faith and therapeutic landscapes: Places of worship as black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) public health settings in the United Kingdom. Social Science and Medicine, 230. pp. 57-65. ISSN 0277-9536
Abstract
Within the United Kingdom, there is evidence that faith-based affiliations, ideas, actors and organisations play a role in public health (PH) that has been neither properly recognised nor integrated into mainstream health systems (November, 2014). Discourses on faith and improving health outcomes have been particularly focused on 'seldom heard' groups, including 'Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic' (BAME) communities (November, 2014; Jain, 2014; Burton et al., 2017; Muhammad, 2018). In this paper we first present findings from a qualitative scoping study carried out in Leeds and Bradford, cities in the UK, between 2014 and 2015, which examined Places of Worship (PWs) as BAME PH settings. We carried out nineteen semi-structured interviews with purposively selected respondents, and three focus groups. Second, we develop a theory that originates from one in the sub-discipline of 'health geography' concerned with 'therapeutic landscapes', applying it to our research findings on PWs as BAME PH settings. The paper argues for the recentring of religion and faith settings back into the therapeutic landscapes literature, reflecting evidence that faith-based affiliations, ideas, actors and organisations are relevant to the pursuit of health and wellbeing. We also contend that a therapeutic landscapes framework provides a way of making the health relevance of PWs visible to both health practitioners and to members of PWs. We argue that PWs act as therapeutic places (i.e. specific transformative sacred sites) as well as therapeutic spaces (i.e. settings that provide adjuncts to formal PH promotion services), and are often part of therapeutic networks included in 'kinship groups and networks of care provided by family, friends, therapists and other agents of support' (Smyth, 2005: 490). This approach allows us to see how influences on health behaviour are not just confined to bio-medical settings, but that the 'healing process works itself out in places (or situations, locales, settings and milieus)' (Gesler, 1992: 743).
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2019 Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an author produced version of a paper published in Social Science & Medicine. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Place of worship; Religion; Faith; Public health; Healthy settings; Therapeutic landscapes; BAME |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures (Leeds) > School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science (Leeds) > Theology and Religious Studies (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 26 Mar 2019 10:41 |
Last Modified: | 09 Mar 2020 01:40 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.03.006 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:144067 |