title: Spirituality and Religiosity in Adolescents Living With Sickle Cell Disease.
abstract: This study purports to address paucity in the literature regarding how adolescents with sickle cell disease (SCD) describe and experience spirituality and religiosity (S/R). This was a qualitative descriptive study. Two semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine adolescents (Mage = 16.2 years). Data were analyzed using a template analysis style and a concurrent analysis process of data reduction. Three major themes encompassed the participants' descriptions of the relationships between S/R, health and illness in their lives including S/R as sources for coping, influence of S/R beliefs on health and illness, and sharing S/R with Health Care Providers (HCPs). S/R as coping mechanisms included six threads: interconnecting with God, interconnecting with others, interconnecting with creative arts, scriptural metanarratives, transcendent experiences, and acceptance and finding meaning. Expectations of health providers included two threads: Religiosity is private/personal and sharing spiritual and religious beliefs is risky. S/R are particularly salient for adolescents with SCD.
authors.affiliation: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA clayjone@uwm.edu.
authors.forename: Dora
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Clayton-Jones
authors.affiliation: Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Kristin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Haglund
authors.affiliation: Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Ruth Ann
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Belknap
authors.affiliation: Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, USA.
authors.forename: Jame
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schaefer
authors.affiliation: Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Alexis A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Thompson
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000755:Anemia, Sickle Cell / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D044383:Black People; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012067:Religion; D029181:Spirituality; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: adolescent; pediatrics; religiosity; sickle cell disease; spirituality