The spiritual factors influencing the health-seeking behaviour amongst the Charismatic Christians in Johannesburg

Abstract

Health-seeking behaviour encompasses the actions, thought processes and decision-making involved in establishing and maintaining a healthy physiological state. As such, various studies have investigated the factors that influence health-seeking behaviour. Such factors included demographic, socio-economic, political, religious and cultural factors. It was however, found that there was a lack of research regarding the specific factors of Charismatic Christians that affect health-seeking behaviour, thus guiding the research question. The aim of this study was to explore the spiritual factors influencing health-seeking behaviours of the Charismatic Christians in Johannesburg, Gauteng. Through a paradigm of interpretivism, research was conducted using a qualitative approach to explore and describe how the spiritual factors of Charismatic Christians influence health-seeking behaviour. An instrumental case study design was utilised in order to gain insight into the phenomenon of health-seeking behaviour, to create recommendations to facilitate practice and to refine theory to increase health-seeking behaviour among Charismatic Christians. This was done through the use of one-to-one, semi-structured interviews with participants, who were incorporated into the study through voluntary, purposive sampling. Previous studies found various factors affecting health-seeking behaviour, amongst these were religious factors. Furthermore, there were several studies that explored the health-seeking behaviours of Charismatic Christians, however, this was mainly focused on the mental health domain. To date, little research has been done into the general health-seeking behaviours of Charismatic Christians, which indicated the gap for the research study. The findings of the study both supported and contradicted the specific factors affecting health-seeking behaviour, found in the national and international studies in the literature review. However, the study agreed with the previous studies, that spiritual factors do affect the health-seeking behaviours of Charismatic Christians in Gauteng. It can be concluded that participants are not averse to seeking professional healthcare services that are easily accessible, however, unless the symptoms are severe, participants will engage in other methods of self-care prior to seeking healthcare services. Secondly, Charismatic Christianity was found to encourage health-seeking behaviour through teachings of self-control, self-respect, and healing through medicine. Thirdly, it was concluded that in some instances, Charismatic Christianity could deter individuals from health-seeking behaviour as they have a belief in divine healing from God, thus it is not necessary for them to seek formal healthcare services. Lastly, it was concluded that participants have had limited contact with social workers in the healthcare setting, thus limiting their knowledge regarding the role of social work, however, they are willing to engage with social workers in the healthcare settings, if services adhere to ethical standards. Based on the conclusions of the study, it was recommended that the healthcare team, including social workers, be knowledgeable about the spiritual factors influencing health-seeking behaviour, as well as remain non-judgemental and allow for autonomy of patients. It was further recommended that preventative healthcare be encouraged and promoted within healthcare settings. It was lastly recommended that patients have access to information regarding symptoms and severity, to encourage individuals to seek professional healthcare timeously.