Religion and culture-related explanatory models of cancer and their association with wellbeing: a survey-based study in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Health beliefs are recognized as being important in predicting disease-related variables. Among health beliefs, explanatory models are observed to be strongly held beliefs. The personal etiological framework of an individual regarding his or her health condition is referred to as an explanatory model. In Asian countries, it has been observed that individuals have two parallel sets of explanatory models. One is based on the Western medical model, and another is based on cultural and religious beliefs. The current cross-sectional study expects to understand the religion and culture-based explanatory models among Sri Lankans. The study’s first phase was conducted with 142 adults in Sri Lanka as an online survey. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to gauge the relationship between selected demographic variables and religious-cultural beliefs related to cancer. A short questionnaire was developed to record the religious-cultural beliefs related to cancer, following five mini-interviews. This was pre-tested before being used in the study. 50 cancer patients participated in the second phase, where their commonly held religion and culture-related explanatory models and their levels of well-being were correlated to understand if they had a significant impact on their well-being. An adapted version of the PERMA profiler was used to measure well-being. No statistically significant relationships were observed between the religious-cultural explanatory models of cancer and the disease-related variables. Thus, the prominent religious and cultural explanatory models of cancer can be seen as part of personal core beliefs in people, which are not normally affected or necessarily changed significantly via education, gender, or other disease-related circumstances. Further, beliefs related to karma appear to have a significant impact on well-being. Thus, karma and other religion- and culture-based explanatory models should be acknowledged in providing holistic care for cancer patients.