When Health Meets Holiness: The Impact of Spiritual Community Norms on Personal Health Behaviors

• In Event: Sustaining and Transforming the Communication Discipline: Examining the Relationship of Spirituality and Communication

Abstract

This paper moves the idea of “spirituality” beyond intrapersonal metaphysical discovery to the shared social spaces where spiritual community forms, and how those communities impact the health behaviors of their members through social norms. This paper wrestles with the ways that spiritually-motivated health behaviors disrupt (as when patients refuse treatment for spiritual reasons) and enable (as when patients use spiritual techniques to reduce stress or cope with illness) the social structure of biomedical health care.

Author

• Jenn Anderson, Michigan State University