scholarly journals Vaccine Refusal in the Czech Republic Is Associated with Being Spiritual but Not Religiously Affiliated

Vaccines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 1157
Author(s):  
Alice Kosarkova ◽  
Klara Malinakova ◽  
Jitse P. van Dijk ◽  
Peter Tavel

A strong reduction in the deleterious effects of the COVID-19 pandemic can be achieved by vaccination. Religiosity and spirituality (R/S) may play an important role in vaccine acceptance. However, evidence is lacking for the associations with religious conspiracy theories (RCT) in a non-religious environment. This study investigated the associations between R/S and RCT about COVID-19 vaccination and the links of R/S with vaccine refusal and hesitancy. A sample of Czech adults (n = 459) participated in the survey. We measured R/S, RCT, religious fundamentalism, and COVID-19 vaccination intentions. We found spirituality to be significantly associated with RCT belief, with odds ratios (OR) of 2.12 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.42–3.19). A combination of R/S groups revealed that spirituality with non-religious affiliation was associated with higher beliefs in RCT, with ORs from 3.51 to 7.17. Moreover, associations were found between spirituality with non-religious affiliation [OR 2.22(1.33–7.76)] with vaccine refusal. Our findings showed associations of spirituality and religious fundamentalism with RCT about COVID-19 vaccination. Furthermore, spirituality was linked to a higher possibility of vaccine refusal. Understanding these associations may help prevent the development of RCT and negative impact of spirituality on vaccine intentions and contribute to the effectiveness of the vaccination process.

Al-Albab ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Taufani Taufani

This research aims to describe and examine the phenomenon of Islamic fundamentalism on the campus of Hasanuddin University (UNHAS). Islamic fundamentalism is a phenomenon that emerged after the reform and it is commonly encountered in the campus world. The trend shows that the phenomenon of Islamic fundamentalism is growing in the campus that has no particular religious affiliation and is often driven by the propagation of the Campus Dakwah Organization (LDK). This research would like to test the thesis that whether it is relevant to the context of the Hasanuddin University that in fact is not a religiously-affiliated campus or the contrary. The method of collecting data was done through observation of the activities of the LDK activist at the Hasanuddin University (UNHAS) Campus Dakwah Organization’s Musholla Lovers (LDK-MPM), in-depth interviews, documentation/review of previous research and papers. This research shows that Islamic fundamentalism led by LDK-MPM is growing at the Hasanuddin University. This phenomenon emerged as the implications of the post-reform freedom, so that these opportunities are exploited by activists to channel their euphoria, because at the time of the new order, their propagation had a fairly limited space. Another factor that led to the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and growing at Hasanuddin University is because the students did not have comprehensive Islamic references, so that they had no checklist for critiquing and examining the ideology of Islamic fundamentalism. In addition, the emergence of modernity considered to bring the negative excesses also serves as another factor being the cause of Islamic fundamentalism. Therefore, the ideology of Islamic fundamentalism emerged as an alternative to counteract the negative excesses. Keywords: Islamic Fundamentalism, LDK-MPM, Hasanuddin University.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 215013272110121
Author(s):  
Joseph Robert Fuchs ◽  
Jeffrey William Fuchs ◽  
Joshua M. Hauser ◽  
Marilyn E. Coors

Introduction Religiously affiliated healthcare organizations play an important role in the delivery of care in the United States. There is a gap in the literature regarding patients’ attitudes toward receiving care at these institutions, especially in geographically diverse populations. Methods In this two-site pilot study, we conducted a written survey of 141 adult primary care patients at non-religiously affiliated clinics in rural and urban Colorado. Demographic information, measures of religiosity and spirituality, and opinions regarding religiously affiliated care were collected. Results 73.3% and 69.6% of patients in rural and urban counties, respectively, had no preference as to the religious affiliation of their care. However, patients in the urban county (24.1%) were more likely than those in the rural county (8.3%) to prefer care that was not affiliated with any religion. Conclusions This study suggests that concerns such as proximity to care and patient/provider relationships may be more important to patients than the possible religious affiliation of a healthcare organization. This work is a first step in better understanding patients’ attitudes toward religiously affiliated care in urban versus rural settings.


2021 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-19
Author(s):  
Dana Ďuricová ◽  
Zuzana Krátka ◽  
Martin Bortlík ◽  
Lenka Slabá ◽  
Kristýna Strnadová ◽  
...  

Background: Several previous studies reported the negative impact of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) on reproductive plans and fertility rate. The aim of our study was to investigate, for the first time, reproductive attitudes and fertility rate among Czech patients with IBD. Methods: Between March and August 2019, consecutive patients with IBD from 22 centres across the Czech Republic responded anonymously to a predefined questionnaire focused on the patients’ demographics, details of IBD and treatment, gynaecological/urological history, reproductive issues and patients’ knowledge on this topic. Results: The questionnaire was filled in by 798 patients (526 women; median age 34 years, 66% with Crohn’s disease). Of these, 58% of the females and 47.1% of the males already had ≥ 1 child (median 2 children). Women with IBD were significantly more worried about infertility (55.5% versus 22.4%), had more limitations in their sexual life (53.2% vs. 26.8%) and more frequently changed their earlier reproductive plans (27.6% versus 11.0%) than the males (p < 0.0001). The total fertility rate in female IBD patients was lower compared to the general population with 1.004 live births/IBD woman versus 1.69 live births/woman in the Czech population. The pattern of decreased fertility was observed in all age-specific categories. Of the childless patients, 14% of the women and 18.1% of the men were voluntarily childless. Approximately one-half of them indicated their IBD to be the primary cause. Conclusions: IBD seems to have a negative impact on patients’ reproductive plans and attitudes. The fertility rate in Czech IBD female patients was decreased compared to the general population in this study.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adugna Kebede ◽  
Robert Kanwagi ◽  
Asrat Dibaba Tolossa ◽  
Md Abul Kalam ◽  
Thomas Davis ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: While a vaccine is the only clinical preventive measure to control the infection and mortality caused by SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), delayed acceptance or refusal of COVID-19 vaccines may increase and prolong the threat to global public health and the economy. Identifying behavioural determinants is considered a critical step in explaining and addressing the barriers of vaccine refusal, but there is a lack of evidence around COVID-19 vaccine refusal and delay from a behavioural perspective. This study aims to identify the behavioural determinants of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance and provide recommendations to design actionable interventions to increase the uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine in six lower-and-middle income countries. Methods: Taking into consideration the Health Belief Model (HBM), Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), and other behavioural models, a Barrier Analysis (BA) approach was employed to examine twelve potential behavioural determinants of vaccine acceptance in Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Tanzania. In all six countries, at least 45 interviews with those who intended to take the vaccine (“Acceptors”) and another 45 or more interviews with those who did not (“Non-Acceptors”) were conducted, totalling 542 interviews. Data analysis was performed to find statistically significant (a p-value of less than 0.05) differences between Acceptors and Non-acceptors and to identify which beliefs were most highly associated with acceptance and non-acceptance of the behaviour based on estimated relative risk (ERR). Results: The analysis showed that perceived social norms, perceived positive and negative consequences, perceived risk of getting COVID-19, perceived severity of COVID-19, trust in COVID-19 vaccines, perceived safety of COVID-19 vaccines, and expected access to COVID-19 vaccines had the highest association with COVID-19 vaccine acceptance in Bangladesh, Kenya, Tanzania, and DRC. Additional behavioural determinants found to be significant in both Myanmar and India were perceived self-efficacy, trust in COVID-19 information provided by leaders, perceived divine will, and perceived action efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines. The study also identified important perceptions and beliefs around COVID-19 and its severity, advantages and disadvantages of being vaccinated, and action efficacy of the vaccine to control the spread of the virus. Conclusion: Many of the determinants found to be significant and their level of significance varied from country to country. National and local plans should include messages and activities that address the behavioural determinants found in this study in order to significantly increase the uptake of COVID-19 vaccine across these countries.


2013 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-126
Author(s):  
Klára Coufalová ◽  
Ivana Kinkorová ◽  
Lucia Malá ◽  
Jan Heller

The aim of our study was to monitor changes in individual components of body composition due to reduction in body weight in judo. This precontest weight reduction is very common in combat sports and it can have negative impact not only on performance but also on health. Research group consisted of 11 judoists at the age of 17-27 years belonging to the representation of the Czech Republic. The measurement of body composition had two parts; the first was before body weight reduction and the second part at the end of body weight reduction. For the measurement of body composition we used multifrequency bioimpedance analyzer BIA 2000 - M. The results of our study show that rapid intensive weight reduction is reflected in varying degrees in all parameters of body composition. We noticed a reduction of body weight by an average of 4.7% (approximately 3.8 kg), the weight loss ranged from 1.6 kg to 8.1 kg. The greatest changes in the parameters of body composition were detected in the extracellular water (ECW), there was a decrease of this parameter on average by 13.8 %, while total body water (TBW) decreased by 6.0 %. There was also a reduction in the amount of body fat by 13.2 %, the amount of extracellular mass (ECM) decreased by 9.8 %, the ratio of ECM/BCM by 8.9 % and the amount of fat-free mass (FFM) decreased by 4.0 %. Only in intracellular water (ICW), we noticed a slight increase by 1.4 %, which may be due to the redistribution of body fluids. Changes of particular parameters of body composition were statistically and substantively significant.


2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 73-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nima Ghorbani ◽  
Zhuo Job Chen ◽  
Fatemeh Rabiee ◽  
PJ Watson

This first analysis of the Religious Fundamentalism Scale in Iran further examined findings that conservative religious commitments have positive adjustment implications outside the West. Religious Fundamentalism in a sample of 385 Iranian university students displayed direct relationships with Muslim religiosity and spirituality and correlated positively with the Transcendence and negatively with the Symbolism Post-Critical Beliefs (PCB) factors. Religious Fundamentalism, and conservative religiosity more generally, predicted better mental health in relationship with variables related to self-regulation, narcissism, and splitting. PCB factors defined a fundamentalist attitude of Literal Affirmation that also displayed some linkages with more adaptive psychological functioning. Iranians who self-identified as “both religious and spiritual” were more conservative religiously and more adjusted psychologically than three other religious-spiritual types. Conservative religiosity did predict the maladjustment of Exploitable Dependency. These data further suggested that conservative religiosity can have largely, though not wholly, positive mental health implications outside the West.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed amine Kerdoun ◽  
Hamza Abdellah Henni ◽  
Assia Yamoun ◽  
Amine Rahmani ◽  
Rym Messaouda Kerdoun ◽  
...  

Vaccine hesitancy is a limiting factor in global efforts to contain the current pandemic, wreaking havoc on public health. As today's students are tomorrow's doctors, it is critical to understand their attitudes toward the COVID-19 vaccine. To our knowledge, this study was the first national one to look into the attitudes of Algerian medical students toward the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine using an electronic convenience survey. 383 medical students from five Algerian universities were included, with a mean age of 21.02. 85.37% (n=327) of respondents had not taken the COVID-19 vaccine yet and were divided into three groups; the vaccine acceptance group (n=175, 53.51%), the vaccine-hesitant group (n=75, 22.93%), and the vaccine refusal group (n=77, 23.54%). Gender, age, education level, university, and previous experience with COVID-19 were not significant predictors for vaccine acceptance. The confirmed barriers to the COVID-19 vaccine concern available information, effectiveness, safety, and adverse effects. This work highlights the need for an educational strategy about the safety and effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine. Medical students should be educated about the benefits of vaccination for themselves and their families and friends. The Vaccine acceptant students' influence should not be neglected with a possible ambassador role to hesitant and resistant students.


The Lancet ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saad B Omer ◽  
Regina M Benjamin ◽  
Noel T Brewer ◽  
Alison M Buttenheim ◽  
Timothy Callaghan ◽  
...  

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 77-84
Author(s):  
Václav Svoboda ◽  
Emil Řepka

The aim of our study is to identify and evaluate the impact of rules changes in 2010 on success of two-point shooting and three-point shooting between selected Czech and foreign players taking part in National Basketball League- top male competition in the Czech Republic who have met with our specifi ed conditions in examined seasons 2009/10 and 2010/11. There are following methods used in the very research in the empirical part: Student’s paired t-test, Two-sample F-test, Student’s unpaired t-test of equality of variances and Size of eff ect. The results of these tests has statistically confi rmed our hypotheses H1 and H2 – it means decreasing of two-point shooting success in season 2010/11 for all examined players and reducing of success at three-point throws between players with Czech nationality. On the contrary, it has not confi rmed the hypothesis H3, thus increasing of three-point shooting success in season 2010/11 between foreign players. Substantively, we consider as an essential result the 20.1% negative impact of the rules changes on success of three-point shooting for players of Czech nationality.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron Gullickson

Since 1990, the percent of Americans with no religious affiliation has grown substantially. Prior work has shown that between 1990 and 2000, the religiously unaffiliated population also became more religious in belief and practices, both in absolute terms and relative to the affiliated population. This curious empirical finding is believed to be driven by a dilution effect in which moderate believers disaffiliated from organized religion without giving up religious beliefs and practices. In the current article, I use data from the General Social Survey to show that this convergence of beliefs and practices of the religiously affiliated and unaffiliated ended around 2000. Since 2000, the religiously unaffiliated have decreased their belief in god and the afterlife, and have not increased their prayer frequency. The trends for the affiliated have been either increasing or unchanging and thus the religious practices and beliefs of the religiously affiliated and unaffiliated have diverged since 2000. The change in trend for the religiously unaffiliated after 2000 cannot fully be explained generational succession or the growing percentage of Americans raised without religion. Although the unaffiliated remain very heterogeneous in their beliefs and practices, these results point to a growing religious polarization in the United States.


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