Refusal of Medical Blood Transfusions Among Jehovah's Witnesses: Emotion Regulation of the Dissonance of Saving and Sacrificing Life.
This study focuses on the requirement of JWs to refuse medical blood transfusions. We identified a life-death cognitive dissonance among JWs, with the opposing cognitions of being willing to sacrifice life by religious standards, while being unwilling to do so. Using a theory that connects cognitive dissonance with the need to regulate difficult emotions to analyze our qualitative data material, we identified two sets of dissonance reduction strategies among the JWs. Set 1 was tied to the individual-group: selective focus on eternal life, a non-blood support and control system, and increased individualization of treatment choices. Set 2 was in the religion versus medicine intersection: denial of risk combined with optimism, perception of blood as dangerous, and use of medical language to underscore religious doctrine.
MF Norwegian School of Theology, P.O.Box. 5144, Majorstuen, N-0302, Oslo, Norway. Hege.K.Ringnes@mf.no.
Hege Kristin
HK
Ringnes
MF Norwegian School of Theology, P.O.Box. 5144, Majorstuen, N-0302, Oslo, Norway.
Harald
H
Hegstad
D001803:Blood Transfusion / Q000523:psychology*; D003073:Cognitive Dissonance; D004644:Emotions; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D033221:Jehovah's Witnesses / Q000523:psychology*; D009519:New York City; D012068:Religion and Medicine; D016312:Treatment Refusal / Q000523:psychology*
Cognitive dissonance; Death; Emotion regulation; Jehovah’s Witnesses; Medical blood transfusions; Religion