Health behaviours religiously conditioned on the example of the followers of the Seventh-day Adventist Church

Introduction. The modern vision of patient care is the provision of holistic care that takes into the account not only the biological, psychological and social needs, but also those that arise from the cultural and religious differences. Professed religion is a factor that seems to have a strong influence on health behaviors, as well as health-promoting and those which endanger health however much less likely.

Aim. The aim of this article was to familiarize readers of the customs, beliefs and behaviors related to health followers of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (KADS), as well as sensitivity to religiously adequate to help. Material and methods. In this paper we used the method of document analysis, reviewing the literature on the Polish-language lifestyle followers KADS and their many years of experience in the care of Adventists in the Nursing Home “Samaritan” in Bielsko-Biala.

Results. In Poland there are about 9,600 followers KADS, the majority of which lives in southern Poland. Among Protestant Christian communities, they stand out in the approach to health, promoting healthy lifestyle in conjunction with certain truths of faith. Seventh-day Adventists are a group of religious characterized by a different lifestyle than Catholics, there are fundamental differences. Differences affecting nursing cover issues: the use of certain therapeutic agents; diet; religious practices to the seriously ill and dying; relation to contraception, abortion, artificial insemination.

Nursing Topics 2014; 22 (4): 533–538