Spirituality and Religion in the Latino Population

Spirituality and Religion in the Latino PopulationName

Institution

Year

Religion is a major force in the Latino population and influences the day to day life of the people. The Latinos are strong believers and this goes deeper than the religious sphere of life including the service sector. In terms of beliefs, religion can have more than one effect on the people that shows how its impact affects their decision-making process. The Latinos have a strong affiliation to religion mainly Christianity that has evolved over centuries. Decision making among the Latinos in the service sector is influenced by many factors including religion that shows the impact of certain beliefs on the people. Spirituality among Latinos is not only a matter of religion but a deep-rooted culture that has thrived for centuries. The attachment in this religion has made many Latinos refer to their spirituality when making decisions.

The influence of religion in the decision making and the service accessibility can therefore be seen in many fronts among the Latinos. To start with, the Latinos have for centuries attached their faith in certain aspects of life like in voluntary services (Nuñez et al., 2017). The other area is matters of health and healing where some believe that health is God-given and this limits their search for medical help. There are also those who believe that voluntary work should be encouraged and this derives the high appetite for voluntary works among the Latinos. Among Latinos, significant majorities of Catholics (68%) and mainline Protestants (65%) say religion is very important to them (Cavazos Vela et al., 2015). The infeluce of religion is every profound a nogm Latinos that underlines the need to evaluate its impact on the people. One of the Religious beliefs have an effect on the way people perceive health, voluntary work, and communal work. Most Latinos have a strong faith in religion and this goes far in influencing their attitude towards health care and even voluntary work. Religious beliefs cause patients to forego needed medical care, refuse life-saving procedures, and stop necessary medication, choosing faith instead of medicine (Beraldo et al., 2019). Health Practitioners need to learn to respect the decisions that patients make based on their religious beliefs and not become offended or feel rejected. Positive beliefs and personal healing by faith are some of the core values held by Latinos in reference to spirituality.

Problem solving among Latinos is also tied to faith and religion. The basic Christian teachings in Latino have impacted the way the people make their decisions (Schwingel & Gálvez, 2016). Problems solving among Latinos has always been hinged on morals the law. The religion thereby plays a key role in shaping how the people address their issues in the society thereby showing the impact of religion in the society. The major impact of religion in problem solving is that matters of faith among Latinos are attached to morals (Caplan, 2019). The aspect of faith and religion among Latinos is therefore more aligned to morals that shows that both religion and societal norms are tied together.

Studies have shown that most Latinos have high intellect and understand that faith is inseparable when it comes to healing (Nuñez et al., 2017). For example, in areas of health care, some Latinos believe that healing begins with one having a belief that God is the healer. The second step is to seek medical health that attaches the two elements together. The aspect of religion therefore influences the way the Latinos perceive key services like health care and this goes deep into their attitude and values. One way to look at the impact of religion among Latinos is the way the individuals address common problems that arise in the society (Colbert, Webber & Graham, 2017). The Latinos have a deep belief that morals are paramount and religion is the core pillar that shapes one’s behavior. The aspect of problem solving is thus highly inclined in faith and religion among the Latinos.

Another outlook in the way religion affects Latinos approach to problems is its impacts on decision making. Most Latinos regard religion as the core element upon which people ought to make decisions and evaluate their decisions (Cavazos Vela et al., 2015). Christianity that makes the majority of the religion in Latino population has a huge influence on the way people make decision. The value of religion goes as far as influencing even some laws in the Latino countries that shows that Christianity is a great force in the region (Davenport, 2016). Latinos have for centuries believed that the Bible is the blueprint upon which people ought to conduct themselves and this influences the way they approach matters of faith. The beliefs and practices of the Latinos that are more hinged on Christianity has a huge impact on the way they make decisions (Breland-Noble et al., 2015). For example, some Latinos believe that faith overcomes any problem and this makes these people go for religion in areas where they are supposed to seek physical help. The issue is even evident in solving problems that arise in the society where basic morals would apply.

Social work among Latinos can also be determined by religion based on how the recipients of the services reason. The first outlook is the relationship between the religion and the societal norms and beliefs (Nuñez et al., 2017). The Latinos have a high regard to religion and this influences how they perceive social work. Voluntary work and social services are held with high regard among Latinos and this makes the work of a volunteer social worker practitioner easy. The Latinos are driven by their faith and religion that teaches that charity and volunteering to help other is vital for the good of the society (Colbert, Webber & Graham, 2017). Since Christianity teaches a lot about helping others, the partitioner social worker would find it easy to interact with the Latinos. The practitioner would also have to address the issue of health services and their impact among the people.

It is true that a certain portion of the Latinos have low regard for medical services where they prefer applying faith and belief for healing. Convincing such people to go for the medical services would be hard task if they have different belief about health care (Caplan, 2019). On a positive note, most Latinos are educated and understand the value of good health. The practitioner would only be required to demonstrate the positive sides of the services being offered. The aspect of religion and faith among Latinos is therefore very neutral when it comes to making decisions about their personal health and solving problems among themselves. Religion influences how the Latinos mainly on how they make their decision and solve problems (Breland-Noble et al., 2015). One of the positive things is that the Latinos have fine believe in Christianity but also understand the value of social work and god health.

Case Study

1

The emotions portrayed by the victim shows a great connection between spiritual and personal feelings. Being psychological feeling, the victims shows that the predicaments that he faced were the cause of the emotions that related to his brother’s death. There is a great relationship between the culture, spirituality, and the victim’s feelings or emotions. The victim must have felt lonely, alienated, and deep remorse as a result of his brother’s death.

2

The spiritual message being conveyed by the victim is that some of the emotions people feel have a lot to do with the religion and the spiritual beliefs held by the society. The other message is that the spiritual world is so much connected to people’s feelings and thus there is need to address how the society establishes its faith in relation to personal matters of loss.

3

A social worker dealing with a sensitive culture has to have a deep knowledge on how the religion, spirituality, and culture of those people connects. The other form of knowledge is the relationship between the values and bonds held by the people and the influence of faith and religion in emotions and decision making of that group.

4

A therapist can apply several skills like the cultural versus religious knowledge that appears to be the case being presented in the case study. The victim is disturbed not only by the loss of a loved one but the inability to suppress his feelings that are rooted in both cultural and religious beliefs of his society. A therapist has to understand the victim’s background and how religion and culture interlock as the basis of his emotions. The knowledge will help in creating the right outlook and understanding why the victim feels bad about his loss.

References

Beraldo, L., Gil, F., Ventriglio, A., de Andrade, A. G., da Silva, A. G., Torales, J., … & Castaldelli-Maia, J. M. (2019). Spirituality, religiosity and addiction recovery: current perspectives. Current Drug Research Reviews Formerly: Current Drug Abuse Reviews, 11(1), 26-32.

Breland-Noble, A. M., Wong, M. J., Childers, T., Hankerson, S., & Sotomayor, J. (2015). Spirituality and religious coping in African-American youth with depressive illness. Mental health, religion & culture, 18(5), 330-341.

Caplan, S. (2019). Intersection of cultural and religious beliefs about mental health: Latinos in the faith-based setting. Hispanic Health Care International, 17(1), 4-10.

Cavazos Vela, J., Castro, V., Cavazos, L., Cavazos, M., & Gonzalez, S. L. (2015). Understanding Latina/o students’ meaning in life, spirituality, and subjective happiness. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 14(2), 171-184.

Colbert, A. M., Webber, J., & Graham, R. (2017). Factors that influence autism knowledge in Hispanic cultures: A pilot study. Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities, 4(2), 156-164.

Davenport, L. D. (2016). The role of gender, class, and religion in biracial Americans’ racial labeling decisions. American Sociological Review, 81(1), 57-84.

Nuñez, A., Holland, J. M., Beckman, L., Kirkendall, A., & Luna, N. (2017). A qualitative study of the emotional and spiritual needs of Hispanic families in hospice. Palliative & Supportive Care, 1-9.

Schwingel, A., & Gálvez, P. (2016). Divine interventions: faith-based approaches to health promotion programs for Latinos. Journal of religion and health, 55(6), 1891-1906.

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