Exploring Health and Premature Mortality of Wheelchair Users from a Medical and a Greek-Orthodox Perspective

Wheelchair users have a lower life expectancy compared to the general population. This project aims to provide a deeper understanding of the interaction between physical, psychological, social, and spiritual factors that affect the mortality and health of this target group. The methods used were qua...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Religions
Authors: Papanikolaou, Konstantinos (Author) ; Andreopoulos, Andreas 1966- (Author) ; Chatzitolios, Apostolos (Author) ; Gianasmidis, Athanasios (Author) ; Goble, Colin (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: MDPI 2022
In: Religions
Year: 2022, Volume: 13, Issue: 7
Further subjects:B Disability
B Health
B Mortality
B Orthodox spirituality
B wheelchair users
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Summary:Wheelchair users have a lower life expectancy compared to the general population. This project aims to provide a deeper understanding of the interaction between physical, psychological, social, and spiritual factors that affect the mortality and health of this target group. The methods used were qualitative. Data from phenomenological interviews, questionnaires, medical reports, and existing literature were composed to develop a grounded theory depicting the overall health of wheelchair users. The research team explored death causes, risk factors of premature death, and contributors that affect risk factors. In the discussion, we explored and analyzed specific patterns of interaction of the factors in the data and other research projects. Moreover, we attempted to analyze these patterns through the viewpoint of the Greek-Orthodox tradition. In general, the project confirmed previous research findings. The most common death causes seemed to be heart attacks and cancer. These seemed to be affected mainly by obesity, physical inactivity, unhealthy lifestyle, and inadequate preventive healthcare. Spiritual practices based on the Greek-Orthodox tradition are suggested as ways of management. The conclusions can be useful not only to health and social care professionals and clerics, but also wheelchair users themselves.
ISSN:2077-1444
Contains:Enthalten in: Religions
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.3390/rel13070636