1. Perception of Miraculous Healings
- Theoretical Model, Measurement and Relations to Other Psycho-Socio-Spiritual Variables
Jakub Pawlikowski Ph.D., Medical University of Lublin (Poland), Visiting Associate Professor Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (USA);
Michał Wiechetek Ph.D., John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin (Poland)
Conference on Medicine and Religion; March 24-26, 2017, Houston, TX, USA
Introduction and background
The belief in miraculous healings (MH) is observed in history and in contemporary societies (surveys report 29%-86% respondents believe in miracles, 20%-25% witnessed or experienced). MH were interpreted in different way in philosophical, theological, medical and psychological literature (Pawlikowski, 2008). The scientific literature offers still a little information about dimensions of MH beliefs. There is a lack of standarized tools for measurement of MH beliefs.
Aim
Propose a model of understanding of MH (Theoretical Model of Miraculous Healings Beliefs, TMMHB) and a scale based on this model (Beliefs about Miraculous Healings Scale, BMHS)
Present research results on how different perceptions of miraculous healings can interact with some factors such as: religiosity, meaning of life, religious anxiety, religious thinking styles and nature-nurture determinants.
Hypothesis
Different perceptions of MH can originate from different understandings of God, nature and the relationship between God and nature.
Results
Table 2. Interplays between perception of miraculous healings and selected variables (Spearman's rank correlation)
Study design
Participants
STUDY 1 – general students (N=178); aged: years (M=1.5; SD=2.31); female 69.7%;
STUDY 2 – medical students (N=132); aged: years (M=20.72; SD=1.12); female 62,1%.
Methods
Beliefs about Miraculous Healings Scale (BMHS): 7 items, 4-point Likert scale (1- ”strongly disagree” to 4 – “strongly agree”) (Wiechetek & Pawlikowski, 2015);
Table 1. Factor analysis (Oblimin) for the Beliefs about Miraculous Healings Scale (only factor loadings > 0.5 are displayed)
Shortened Post-Critical Belief Scale (Duriez et al., 2005);
Religious anxiety dimension derived from Multidimensional Quest Orientation Scale (Beck & Jessup, 2004);
N-K Questionnaire – concerns perception of human condition determinants: nature, nurture and nature-nurture interactions (Żmuda- Trzebiatowska, 2008);
Duke University Religion Index (DUREL) (Koenig & Büssing, 2010);
Meaning in Life Questionnaire (MLQ) (Steger et al., 2006).
 Variables:
Perception of miraculous healings
Undefined possibilities of human nature
Supernatural powers
Medical bias
Act of God
STUDY 1
Post-Critical beliefs:
Second naiveté
-,515**
-,067
-,420**
,623**
Orthodoxy
-,469**
-,101
-,259**
,519**
External critique
,612**
,062
,506**
-,644**
Relativism
,586**
,244**
,468**
-,509**
Religious anxiety
,223**
,182*
,227**
-,160*
Religious involvment
Organizational religious activity
-,520**
-,069
-,439**
,638**
Non-organizational religious activity
-,406**
-,063
-,341**
,443**
Intrinsic religiosity
-,569**
-,081
-,448**
,677**
Meaning in life
Presence of meaning
-.168*
-,074
-.248**
.171*
Search of mening
,044
,063
,112
-,016
STUDY 2
Determinants of human condition:
Nature
-,093
,153
-,023
,191*
Nurture
,196*
,064
-,082
Nature x Nurture
,308**
,047
-,043
-,034
Items (“Miraculous healing is...”)
Dimension
Undefined possibilities of human nature
Supernatural powers
Medical bias
Act of God
Consequence of still undiscovered human organism potentials
0.876
Effect of unknown natural laws
0.778
Effect of human psychic action
0.754
Effect of supernatural powers
0.994
Effect of medical data manipulation
0.885
Result of medical biased diagnosis
0.822
-0.860
Theoretical Model of Miraculous Healings Beliefs (TMMBH)
Based on:
two dimensions of the thinking about causative factors: the essence of the causative factors (natural/supranatural) and their definiteness (undefined/defined)
And four ways/categories in which MH are interpreted in literature: undefined possibilities of human nature, supernatural powers, medical bias and act of God
TMMBH was partially inspired by Wulff (1991) assumption in which religion may be inserted in an orthogonal bipolar dimensions: vertical and horizontal
** p<0,001; *p<0.05;
Conclusions
The theoretical Model of Miraculous Healing Beliefs seems to be a good assessment for developing studies on perception of MH;
Beliefs about Miraculous Healings Scale seems to be an adequate tool for research on MH beliefs;
Different interpretations of MH interplay in different ways with some psycho- socio-spiritual variables,
e.g. interpretation of MH as medical bias is positively connected with relativism, religious anxiety, external critique (seeking to falsify an idea without hypothetically assuming its truth) and negatively with meaning in life and different kinds of religious involvement; it is inversely associated with interpretation of MH as act of God;
Future research with BMHS could reveal further interaction between perception of miracolous healings and other variables
References:
Balboni MJ, Sullivan A, Enzinger AC, Smith PT, Mitchell C, Peteet JR, Tulsky JA, VanderWeele T, Balboni TA. U.S. Clergy Religious Values and Relationships to End-of-Life Discussions and Care. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2017 Feb 6. epub.
Pawlikowski, J., Wiechetek, M., Sak, J., Jarosz, M.(2015). Beliefs in Miraculous Healings, Religiosity and Meaning in Life. Religions, 6,
Pawlikowski J. The history of thinking about miracles in the West. South Med J Dec;100(12):
Sulmasy DP. What is a miracle? South Med J 2007;100:
Wiechetek, M., Pawlikowski, J. (2012). Beliefs about Miraculous Healings Scale. Lublin: The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Unpublished manuscript.