Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

CiteULike is a free service for managing and discovering scholarly references - click here to get started.

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Psychology & Developing Societies
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Dalal, A. K.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Living with a Chronic Disease: Healing and Psychological Adjustment in Indian Society

Ajit K. Dalal

University of Allahabad, Allahabad

This paper examines the relationship between cultural beliefs about illness and psychological adjustment to a chronic disease. The findings of five studies were metaanalysed. In all these studies hospital patients suffering from various types of health problems were interviewed at different points in time and measures were used to assess their psychological adjustment. The findings revealed that patients' in Indian hospitals consistently attributed their illness to karma and God's will. These cosmic beliefs were found to influence patients' treatment re lated decisions. However, no consistent linkages were unravelled between pa tients' illness beliefs and their psychological adjustment. It was conjectured that these cosmic beliefs acquire different symbolic meaning when illness and social context change. The paper argues for an integrated health care system combin ing the strengths of traditional healing and biomedical practices.

Psychology & Developing Societies, Vol. 12, No. 1, 67-81 (2000)
DOI: 10.1177/097133360001200105
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Psychology Developing SocietiesHome page
P. Awasthi and R.C. Mishra
Role of Coping Strategies and Social Support in Perceived Illness Consequences and Controllability among Diabetic Women
Psychology Developing Societies, December 1, 2007; 19(2): 179 - 197.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Int J Soc PsychiatryHome page
R. Jobanputra and A. F. Furnham
British Gujarati Indian Immigrants' and British Caucasians' Beliefs about Health and Illness
International Journal of Social Psychiatry, December 1, 2005; 51(4): 350 - 364.
[Abstract] [PDF]