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...
| Authors: | ; |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Springer Science + Business Media B. V.
[2016]
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| In: |
Journal of religion and health
Year: 2016, Volume: 55, Issue: 5, Pages: 1672-1687 |
| Further subjects: | B
Medical blood transfusions
B Religion B Cognitive Dissonance B Death B Jehovah’s Witnesses B Emotion regulation |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | 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. |
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| ISSN: | 1573-6571 |
| Reference: | Errata "Erratum to (2017)"
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of religion and health
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1007/s10943-016-0236-5 |