Spirituality and health: an initial proposal to incorporate spiritual health in health impact assessment
Resource/Evaluation type
Overview
Summary
Thailand
This paper explores the spiritual dimensions of health. It suggests that the difficulties to include spirituality as a component in health impact assessment are due to conflicts between two underlying sets of assumptions. Mainstream scientific thought is dominated by a reductionist and materialist worldview, whereby a complex whole (be it an ecological system or a living organism) is viewed as reducible and can be explained by objectively examining and measuring its components.
Spirituality belongs to a differing school of thought with entirely different assumptions: it is an emergent property of a complex living system and exists only when such a system is examined in a holistic manner. This publication offers initial insights towards a cross-paradigm dialogue, in an attempt to incorporate a spiritual dimension into the process of health impact assessment.
More information
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Spirituality and health: an initial proposal to incorporate spiritual health in health impact assessment
K Chuengsatiansup. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 23(1) pp. 3-15 (2003)
Owner contact details
Komatra Chuengsatiansup
Health Systems Research Institute
Department of Mental Health
Tiwanon Road
Nonthaburi
Thailand
www.hpp-hia.or.th