To understand the role of culture on the use of the meaning-making coping among people who have been struck by cancer, qualitative and quantitative studies have been conducted in several countries like Sweden, China, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, and Turkey. This article reports on a quantitative study carried out in Turkey. The aim of the study has been to answer the following question: “Which meaning-making coping method (even nonreligious or spiritual coping methods) is used by informants?” The sample consists of 95 persons, 18+ who had been struck by cancer. The questionnaire was distributed to former/current cancer patients via a web address as an electronic survey through the media page of Cancer Survivors Association. The results of the study show that the most important coping methods used by cancer patients in Turkey are the religious coping (RCOPE) methods, particularly spiritual connection, active religious surrender, passive religious deferral, and pleading for direct intercession. Several RCOPE methods such as spiritual discontent, seeking support from clergy or members, punishing God reappraisal, and demonic reappraisal or self-directing religious coping are not used by the Turkish informants. Nor are non-RCOPE methods highly prevalent among informants.

The present paper looks at the influence of culture on Turkish cancer patients’

use of meaning-making coping, paying particular attention to religious, spiritual, and

existential coping methods. Data were collected using an interview study (n=25, 18

women, age range 20–71). Individuals were recruited at an oncology center and a psychiatry

clinic in Istanbul. The main focus of the study has been on existential meaningmaking

coping, which is characterized by finding power inside oneself, altruism, family

love, a search for meaning by contemplating philosophical issues, and having a positive

life perspective (shukran—thankfulness). In contrast to findings from similar studies

conducted in other countries (studies included in the same project), in Turkey religious

belief directly determines the coping methods used, including the non-religious methods.

The purpose of the present project has been to carry out international studies on meaning-making coping among people who have been affected by cancer in a number of societies and, thereby, to try to understand the influence of culture on use of these coping methods. Five countries — Sweden, South Korea, China, Japan, and Turkey — are included in the project. Qualitative semistructured interviews have been conducted with persons with a cancer diagnosis. The research group in each country has used, as a foundation, the interview questions developed for the Swedish study. These questions were, however, modified to better suite the sociocultural context of each participating country. The results presented here concern only Turkey and are restricted to religious coping methods. The study consists of 25 cancer patients (18 females and 7 males) between 20 and 71 years of age. The results of the study in Turkey indicated that the RCOPE (Religious Coping) methods are highly relevant for the interviewees. A sociological analysis of the study made from a cultural perspective showed clearly the importance of the idea of being tolerant ( Sabr ) for patients when coping with the psychological problems brought about by cancer. The study made it clear that culture plays an essential role in the choice of coping methods.

The world is filled with symbols which possess great meaning to people all around the world. Some of these symbols may be considered religious, thus bearing an occult and mystic meaning to those close to them. In Malta the Sovereign Military Order of Malta is a key part to the islands history and is these days also utilized as a symbol for the tourism industry.What happens when these symbols meet with the world hand in hand with media and other commercial instances? The purpose of this paper is to take a closer look at what consequences a commodification of the knights of Malta might breed and to compare the situation on the island with two other similar situations in India and in former Yugosla-via. With a hermeneutic approach I look at tourism material in form of websites and mer-chandise to make an analysis with the help of two theories, one being the theory of Banal Religion by Stig Hjarvard; the other being Colleen McDannell’s theory on Material Christianity.Results indicate that a de-contextualization from the institutionalized religion can be wit-nessed on Malta. However, with Hjarvards theory applied - this is not necessarily a nega-tive change. It should instead be seen as a product of a secular society without any com-pulsory changes on views on the religion from the average catholic person on the island. McDannell’s theory strengthens this thesis by suggesting that symbols are a part of the belief and not a simplification of the religion. The comparing studies from India and for-mer Yugoslavia with their own consequences should not be viewed as an imminent con-cern for Malta but could be used as instruments to compare certain aspects.

Objective:

To determine whether employees’ spiritual values and practicesin the workplace attenuate occupational stress and work-related exhaustion,and promote mental well-being.

Methods:

Participants (N = 649) completedvalidated measures of mental well-being, occupational stress, and workrelatedexhaustion, as well as two newly developed measures of individualspiritual values and practices in the workplace.

Results:

Factor analysis confirmedthat spirituality items belonged to two separate constructs. In logisticregression models, the Spiritual Values in the Workplace scale was positivelyassociated with mental well-being and low occupational stress. Thespiritual practices at work scale was positively associated with low workrelatedexhaustion.

Conclusions:

Employee spiritual values and practices, aswell as workplace acceptance of such practices, appear to promote mentalwell-being and attenuate stress.

The volume looks at the relation between contemporary Turkish film and television discourses and religion, in relation to the traditions and rituals of Islam, the representation of Muslim women, and subsequent changes in narratives and characters. It employs differing approaches to the relationships between media and religion, concentrating on how religion has started to shape the politics of film in new cinema practices in Turkey. As such, the book represents a comprehensive resource on recent Turkish cinema and TV – a milestone at a time when numerous disciplines have shown an increasing interest in the emerging new Islamic popular culture. It will appeal to those who are interested in Turkey’s opinion about itself, scholars who work in film studies, media studies, religious studies, gender studies and the political sciences, as well as anyone with an interest in Middle Eastern studies and media.

In what ways and under what circumstances can a movie be a resource for individuals and their thoughts about existential matters? This central research question has been investigated using a both quantitative and qualitative approach. First, a questionnaire was distributed amongst 179 Swedish students to provide a preliminary overview of film habits. The questionnaire was also used as a tool for selecting respondents to individual interviews. Second, thirteen interviews were conducted, with viewers choosing their favourite movie of all time. In the study socio-cognitive theory and a schema-based theoretical tool is adopted to analyze how different viewers make use of movies as cultural products in an interplay between culture and cognition in three contexts; a socio-historic process, a socio-cultural interaction with the world and inner psychological processes. Summarizing the interviews some existential matters dominated. Matters of immanent orientation were in the foreground. Transcendental questions received much less attention. Summarizing the schema-based theoretical question, assessing which cognitive schema structures the narratives were processed through, the study found an emphasis on a combination of two main cognitive structures, person schema and self schema. Detailed person schematic cognitive processes about fictitious characters on the screen and their role model behaviour were combined by the respondents with dynamic cross-references to detailed self schematic introspections about their own characteristics, related to existential matters at some very specific moments in their lives. The viewers in the study seem to be inspired by movies as a mediated cultural resource, promoting the development of a personal moral framework with references to values deeply fostered by a humanistic tradition. It is argued that these findings support theories discussing individualised meaning making, developing ‘self-expression values’ and ‘altruistic individualism’ in contemporary western society.

This paper, based on a Master's thesis in Sociology of Religion at Uppsala University, addresses issues regarding gender, sexuality and love as well as television and meaning-making. The aim of the study was to see how young women watching Sex and the City would interpret and make meaning out of values and norms regarding gender, relationships and sexuality in the television show, and also to see whether the way the show pictured relationships and love could function as meaning-making or identity-making stories for the women to use to understand and make meaning out of their own experiences of love, relationships and being a woman.

Theoretical perspectives on the use of narrative and popular culture in identity-making are combined with Giddens' theory on the transformation of intimacy to give a frame for understanding how the stories of love and relationships in popular culture could be used to interpret and give meaning to people's own experiences. Identity and meaning-making are understood as processes that are not identical, but partly overlapping, and they are both reflexive projects of constant change, influenced by outer structures as well as individual choices.

The results of the study show how the young women use different strategies to negotiate between competing ideals or values present in Sex and the City as well as in their actual lives. The ideal of the “independent woman” is strong in the series, as well as a traditional romantic ideal for relationships, and these two ideals often clash. The two ideals both have important aspects regarding construction of gender and power. Results from the study also show that the women in several ways connect the stories of the show with their own lives, and use Sex and the City to interpret and make meaning out of their own experiences of relationships, gender and sexuality. They even describe the show as a “friend”, a place to find comfort, strength and support, and in that way function in different ways in their everyday life.

A qualitative method was used to explore the construction of meaning in relation to spiritual meditation and spiritual experience. Meaning was considered a pathway between spiritual experience and psychological well being. 8 semi-structured interviews were conducted with people who meditate and report having had spiritual experiences during meditation. A cultural analysis was employed to understand spiritual meaning in secular, postmodern Sweden. Meaning was analyzed using a theory of global meaning where the meaning system is made up of three aspects; beliefs, goals and affect. Spiritual meditation and spiritual experiences were used by the participants to construct meaning in all three areas of global meaning. Beliefs about a spirit world and the eternal nature of a soul were confirmed and experienced in spiritual meditation which provided meaning to life and raised self-esteem. The spiritual meditation also helped the participants find and strive for important goals in life, often related to personal growth.   

The aim of this thesis is to examine how religious phenomena in the TV show Supernatu-ral, with focus on banal religion, can be viewed as a part of the mediatization of religion in society. Furthermore, to find out if the representation of religion in the show is differ-ent in its later seasons in comparison with its earlier seasons. Through a qualitative analy-sis and with Hjarvards mediatization theory, as well as his concept of banal religion, Su-pernatural and its religious content has been examined. The research questions used in this study order to reach the aim of the study are what differences in the representation of religion can be found in the later seasons, in comparison to the earlier seasons? is there an increase in loosening of the Catechism of the Catholic Church in the later seasons? and can the representation of religion in the later seasons of the series, according to Hjarvard, be regarded as banal religion? In addition to a qualitative method, an abduc-tive research approach has been used as well as certain parts of Andersson and Hedlings (1999) film analysis process.In the comparison of the series later and earlier seasons, this study finds that some differ-ences exist. These differences are among other things shown by the representation and the personification of God, in the series. Further, the study shows that a slightly increased loosening of the Catechism of the Catholic Church can be seen in the later seasons. An example of this is the introduction of an entity that is God’s sister. In conclusion, this study demonstrates a number of examples of how Hjarvards mediatization theory can be applied to the representation of religion in the series. Moreover, the study can, in some ways, confirm that the representation of religion in the later seasons of the series, accord-ing to Hjarvard, can be viewed as banal religion.

The aims of this study were to investigate the type and extent to which women with substance abuse problems have been exposed to male violence during their lifetime, and to examine possible differences between women with a residence (WR) and homeless women (HW). The total sample included 79 women (WR, n = 35; HW, n = 44; M age = 47.8 years). Of the total sample, 72 women (91%) had experienced different kinds of male violence, 88% from former partners, and 26% from male friends or acquaintances. Of the 72 women, 71% further reported Countless occasions of violent events, and 36% had been forced to commit criminal acts. Abused women who had been forced to commit criminal acts were significantly more frequently found to be homeless, have reported parental alcohol and/or drug problems, have witnessed domestic violence in childhood, have been victims of sexual violence, have used illicit drugs as a dominant preparation, and have injected illicit drugs. Almost half of the abused women (46%) met criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), where HW showed an almost 4-time higher risk (RR 3.78) than WR. In conclusion there is a particular vulnerability in women with substance abuse to male violence, which has an important impact on their health status. Thus, from a public health perspective, it is suggested that for those women who have experienced male violence, treatment protocols need to include both assessing and addressing the impact of such experience in relation to substance abuse as well as concomitant health concerns.

This study explores the prevalence of stress-related burnout among clergy in the Church of Sweden in the current postmodern context. The study focuses on the seriousness of the problem and the role of burnout’s existential dimension. It involves an existential psychological approach in relation to clergy health, connecting to the area of meaning-making and existential health in psychology of religion. A mixed-method design has been used. The study’s first phase has included survey questionnaires related to the work environment of the parish priest, and a self-appraisal burnout measure. Lay members of parish councils have received a shorter questionnaire emphasizing expectations of the clergy. The second phase has included a second burnout measure and semi-structured reflective interviews with parish priests. A method for interpreting lived experience has been used Results indicate a strong connection between vocational doubt and emotional exhaustion, including items with existential themes. A particularly important category of items related to the experience of meaning has been found to have a significant relationship with questions concerning vocational doubt. The laity’s understanding of clergy identity is clearly dominated by managerial categories. It appears that the understanding and role of the minister is insufficiently distinctive. Reactions among the clergy express concern about the level of stress and the absence of dialogue and response. A strong connection between vocational doubt and emotional exhaustion points to void and lethargy. Relations between emotional exhaustion and responses relating to meaninglessness, career choice, and isolation have proven statistically significant. Existential themes related to risk areas and job resources have emerged. Results point to the need for pre-emptive measures in the parish context involving both laity and priests. A Clergy Relational Model of Burnout and Existential Quest is offered for studying mixed samples of parish priests and laity.

Objective: To explore self-rated physical and psychological health in two groups of women with substance misuse problems, subjected to male violence.

Methods: An examination of the health situation for women with substance dependence being exposed to male violence during life. The study took place in a Swedish context exploring data from 35 women with housing (WwH) and 44 homeless women (HW), regarding posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, psychological and physical problems. Mann-Whitney U-test and Pearson’s correlation coefficient were used to calculate differences between groups and correlations.

Results: The proportion of women being exposed to male violence during life for the studied group was 91% (72 of 79 women; WwH 29; HW 43). It was found that the WwH had physical health problems but compared to the HW, significantly less frequent. Regarding psychological health problems, both groups were suffering from self-reported problems, most notably in variables measuring stress susceptibility and embitterment, where both WwH and HW had scores markedly above norm mean scores. The HW had overall a poorer mental health profile as compared to the WwH. The WwH still maintained a foundation in the society compared to the HW regarding housing (100/0%), and custody over their children (91/0%).

Conclusion: The study indicated that women with substance dependence and those who are victims of male violence have major problems with both their psychological and physical health. Particularly vulnerable are the HW. Past experiences of violence that have not been processed can further aggravate the women’s health. Thus, we suggest initiating the process of asking women if they have experienced violence in order to then be able to provide appropriate treatment interventions. For the WwH, this process may lead to a prevention of serious consequences for both their housing situation and for their health.

Gaining access to information concerning mood states and expectations of change preceding a typical drinking occasion is important for understanding the trigger factors for drinking, and for alcohol abuse treatment planning. The objective of the present study was twofold: (i) to explore self-reported states of mood and expectancies preceding a typical drinking occasion vs. relations with parents and drinking outcome; and (ii) to investigate if vulnerability factors in terms of personality and health are related to severity of alcohol problems. The population consisted of 50 women attending a Swedish alcohol clinic. Semi-structured interviews were conducted. A mixed-methods design was used encompassing qualitative interview-data and quantitative data from questionnaires and medical journals. Nine out of ten patients had a diagnosis of alcohol dependence, and four out of five had parents with dependency problems. As compared to a female norm group, the patients displayed significantly higher anxiety-related traits and irritability. Moods were described by patients as mostly negative and expectancies of change were evenly distributed between reducing, enhancing or flight from feeling. An expectancy of flight when drinking was also related to a positive relation to mother. The findings pointed to the need for differentiating between coping with and expectancies of drinking. Further, a hierarchical cluster analysis resulted in two groups, indicating one group characterized by higher risk values on personality scales and more severe consequences of drinking. The contribution of a treatment design informed through a gender and culture perspective to treatment outcome was discussed.

Introduction and Aims. Establishing subgroups in clinical practice is important for treatment planning. The aim of the study was to cluster the study group subjects according to personality traits and psychological health variables and to establish possible differences in treatment outcome in terms of: (i) drinking outcomes (gram and number of drinking days); (ii) perceived physiological health; and (iii) use of treatment resources (length of time in treatment and number of visits) among 134 treatment-seeking women with alcohol problems in a clinical context, between the two clusters obtained. Design and Methods. Data were collected from 134 consecutive women at a Swedish clinic specialised in treating women with alcohol problems. A hierarchical cluster analysis was performed on the basis of self-rated personality scale scores and psychological health variables. Results. Two clusters were identified: one in which the women displayed personality and psychological health scores indicating problems (Cluster 1); and another where the women showed personality and psychological health scores within the norm range (Cluster 2). Alcohol consumption rates at the start of treatment were the same in both clusters. The consumption rates were also the same at the end of treatment for the cluster, showing a significant decrease in alcohol consumption in each. The Cluster 1 women, however, had a significantly higher number of visits at the clinic, and rated the consequences of their alcohol drinking as being significantly worse than Cluster 2 women. Discussion and Conclusions. The importance of individual differences according to personality traits for treatment planning is discussed in terms of the need for variation in treatment time and methods.

The aim of this essay is to study diaries and letters from Swedish soldiers during the Great Nordic War, more specifically those written during the campaign 1707-1721 against Russia, in search of religious coping and religious parables. The theoretic framework is evolved around Kenneth Pargament’s theory about religious coping, and Ana-Maria Rizzuto’s theory about object relations. The method used can be described as hermeneutic.

The questions at hand were:

- How did Swedish soldiers during the war against Russia relate to God, and express image of God and religious concepts?

- Did the soldiers express themselves in terms of spiritual coping and in that case to what extent?

The conclusions were that the soldiers used religious coping as a method of survival. They used all methods as stated by Pargament, except the method that involves cooperation with God, unless you count being God’s humble servant as a way of cooperation.Several diaries features songs and poems and many expresses prayers and faith in God. The soldiers express themselves with parables to the Old Testament, for ex-ample to the Babylonian captivity. The language of the diaries changes after the defeat of Poltava 1709, to a richer one full of religious parables.

Keywords: Spiritual coping, soldiers, Great Nordic War, Charles the XII, Kenneth Pargament.

Since Islam and Muslims are often portrayed in connection with terrorism, female oppression and security in Swedish news media, I decided I wanted to write my study on the subject “Islam and Swedish media”.

The aim with this study was to examine whether SVT’s documentary series Jag är muslim (I am Muslim in English) portrays Muslims differently from Swedish news media, and if so – how? To find out whether there was a difference, I used following questions:

• How are Islam and Muslims portrayed in the documentary series Jag är muslim?
• Does this documentary series give a different picture of Islam and Muslims than what previous studies have shown? i.e. how Islam and Muslims have been portrayed in Swedish news media according to previous studies.
• How can the variety and complexity that exists within Islam that is shown in Jag är muslim contribute to reducing the stereotypification of Islam and Muslims in Swedish media?
• What could explain that Jag är muslim gives a different picture of Islam and Muslims than Swedish news media, if that is the case?

The methods I used were qualitative content analysis and abductive method, and the theories used are social constructivism, news logic, news criteria, and the human-interest frame.

The conclusion shows that the Muslims participating in Jag är muslim are portrayed as any other Swede, but with some exceptions, such as that many Muslim women wear a veil. Because of this, they are portrayed in a very different way from how they are portrayed in Swedish news media, which is probably caused by the fact that they are shown from a human-interest frame perspective in the series, but from a news criteria perspective in Swedish news media. The Muslims participating in the series do most of the time share opinions, but the fact that Muslims with very different opinions exist are also brought up and discussed. 

Previous research among young people (Spini & Doise 1998, Doise & al 1999) has shown that attitudes toward human rights are influenced by perception of conflicts in society and experience of discrimination and that political affiliation as well as religion also may have effect. However interesting these results are for understanding what factors that may contribute to grassroots’ engagement in human rights, these studies have failed to consider important background variables such as gender and parents’ education level, but also to include a more nuanced operationalization of religion. Drawing on data gathered in Norwegian and Swedish metropolitan upper secondary schools (n=2044) this article therefore aims to replicate earlier research correcting for these research gaps. The analysis showed that while religion had a limited effect on attitudes toward political and judicial rights, controlled for background variables, the effect of experienced discrimination and perception of conflicts related to ethnicity seemed to add significantly to the models. It was also shown that Christians did not report more discrimination related to ideology and ethnicity than non-religious, but that Muslims on the other hand did report more discrimination both related to ideology and ethnicity than others. This study has shown that there is a relation between such perceived discrimination and attitudes toward political and human rights.

This study explores the relation between religion and attitudes towards human rights among young people aged 17 to 19. The data material consists of 1660 questionnaires filled out in the classrooms by upper secondary school pupils living in the capital city of Oslo and in the Stockholm/ Uppsala area. We want first to find out if there are closer relations between religion and attitudes towards human rights concerning the private sphere than for attitudes towards human rights concerning the public sphere. By rights related to the private sphere we mean views on abortion and family values and by rights related to the public sphere we mean the right to work, views on social equality, freedom of speech, political interest and environmental protection. The study also looks at differences in this regard between Christians, Muslims and a group of nonreligious. The main result is that while a closer relation can be seen between religion and attitudes concerning the private sphere than attitudes concerning the public sphere, there is no support for the assumption that this relationship is stronger amongst the Muslim sub-group.

The way in which media discusses religion has changed over time. Due to the separation of state and church in 2000, the Swedish state to a lesser extent legitimizes its political ruling with references to religious concepts. As a result, a higher tolerance towards religious minorities can be said to have taken place. This is an ambiguous change however, where critique raised towards religious practices and expressions of minorities also occurs to a higher extent. The public debate is in large part conducted through the media, but is also seen to be produced and reproduced through the media’s discourse. The aim of this study is to examine the way in which Islam, and Muslims by extension, are portrayed in editorials of two of Sweden’s largest broadsheet papers, Svenska Dagbladet and Dagens Nyheter. The study takes a deductive approach, and uses a qualitative text analysis with inspiration from discourse theory to examine the editorials with the help of three theories. The first one is social representations theory as applied by Birgitta Höijer to media studies, the second is Charles Taylor’s Multiculturalism and the Politics of Recognition, and the last is Edward Said’s Orientalism.

The analysis shows that there are indicators of orientalist manifestations in the discourse regarding Islam, and Muslims by extension. This is mainly demonstrated through emotional anchoring as well as anchoring through antinomies. The orientalist manifestations apply to Said’s first and fourth dogma, where Islam and its different expressions are perceived as being at odds with the alleged democratic society. The analysis suggests that, in their role as producers of social representations and collective cognitions, the editorials included in this study withhold recognition from Islam as a collective identity and culture.