Feelings, Difficulties and Attitudes in relation to Fasting: A Qualitative Study on Spiritual Coping Among Turkish Patients with Type 2 Diabetes

• Published in: Journal of religion and health Vol. 62; no. 6; pp. 4382 - 4398
• Main Authors: Akkuş, Yeliz, Kiliç, Serap Parlar
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-12-2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aging; Attitudes; Clinical Psychology; Coping; Data collection; Diabetes; Fasting; Hypoglycemia; Interviews; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mental health; Original Paper; Outpatient care facilities; Pilot projects; Population; Public Health; Qualitative research; Religion; Religious Studies; Spirituality; Spirituality; Fasting; Type 2 diabetes mellitus; Ramadan; Descriptive qualitative study
• ISSN: 0022-4197; 1573-6571
• DOI: 10.1007/s10943-022-01713-3

This study aims to reveal the feelings, difficulties, attitudes, and spiritual coping status of Turkish patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus toward fasting during Ramadan. The sample of this descriptive qualitative study consists of 14 patients diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. We determined two main themes and relevant sub-themes. The first was “the feelings and difficulties experienced due to diabetes mellitus" with the sub-themes of "negative emotions" and “difficulties in fasting." The second theme was identified as "religious and spiritual coping" with the sub-themes of "believing the disease comes from God," “having difficulty in adhering to disease-specific practices while fasting," and "feeling that fasting facilitates coping and provides relief." In conclusion, it was determined that the patients continued to fast despite the difficulties and that fasting facilitated coping and provided relaxation.