Accessible Summary
- A SSCR Research Trainee attended an event called ‘Religion, Medicine, Health & Illness - Overlaps and Intersections’.
- The event was held at the University of Nottingham and organised by the British Sociological Association (BSA) Sociology of Religion and the BSA Medical Sociology Study groups.
- There were presentations from 11 research projects, including research conducted in the UK, India and Canada.
- The event showed that the relationship between religion and health is complex and shaped by many different factors.
- Faith can support coping and, in some cases, recovery.
- Religion plays an important role in healthcare decision-making, but is often overlooked in research and practice.
- Health and social care policy and services could be improved by being more culturally competent and by recognising people’s lived religious experiences.
In April, one of the SSCR Research Trainees, Elsie, attended the Religion, Medicine, Health & Illness - Overlaps and Intersections event at the University of Nottingham. Hosted in collaboration between the British Sociological Association (BSA) Sociology of Religion Study Group and the BSA Medical Sociology Study Group, the event brought together a range of presentations from academics exploring the influence of religion and faith on medicine, health and illness.
Across findings from 11 research projects, the event explored the intersection of faith, healing and healthcare, highlighting how religion shapes everyday understandings of health. A key theme was that health-related decisions and experiences are not purely biomedical, but shaped by social, cultural, religious and political contexts.
The concept of medical pluralism - the adoption of more than one medical system in terms of health beliefs, behaviours or treatments - was central in explaining how these factors influence decision-making. Communities often combine biomedical interventions with faith-based and traditional healing practices. For example, research conducted in India found people often begin with home remedies, turning to biomedicine as a last resort. This contrasts with the UK, where biomedicine is typically the first point of contact.
The role of religious leaders as trusted authorities was widely discussed. They are often consulted for health-related advice and play a crucial role as intermediaries in health decision-making. Engagement with religious leaders was strongly endorsed as a way to promote more culturally-sensitive health and social care delivery.
Importantly, faith was not positioned as a barrier to accessing support, but rather as a social reality that must be recognised and integrated into health and social care understanding and policy to develop more inclusive practice. The influence of religion was found to be complex and multi-layered, with belief systems reshaping ideas of responsibility, accountability and trust. Faith was consistently found to support psychological resilience, coping mechanisms, social cohesion and moral guidance, and in some cases, facilitated recovery. Across many of the studies, religious healing was used in parallel with, or sometimes instead of, formal healthcare systems.
The event concluded with a roundtable discussion emphasising key takeaways; the need for greater interdisciplinary collaboration between sociology, health and religion, and the ongoing challenges in conceptualising categories such as religion, ethnicity and nationality.
The secularisation of health services, particularly in the western countries, was noted as a source of tension, alongside a lack of understanding of patient beliefs among healthcare staff and the need for improved cultural competency training. For example, a study in Canada highlighted varied experiences with mental health services, with some participants reporting a lack of cultural and religious competence that hindered service use and satisfaction.
Religion was also identified as an often-overlooked aspect of intersectionality, despite its clear role in shaping lived experience, highlighting the need for greater incorporation of lived religious perspectives in both research and practice.