1. The interdependence between religiosity and changed life situation due to cancer. - A study of 20 Swedish Christians with cancer diseases: preliminary findings. Mikael Lundmark

2. The aim of the project is to investigate : 1)The function of religiosity as a variety of coping mechanisms when struggling with a cancer disease 2) How the changed life situation due to cancer affects religiosity

3. Average age: 63,6 years (between 48-80 years) Males : 9 Females : 11 Congregations: Swedish church: 4 EFS: 7 pentacostal: 6 EFK: 2 Baptist: 1 Average interview time total: 2h 35min (total all 20 inf.: 52 h) 2010-05-01 are 11 informants still allive Longitudinal data: 8 informants 2 interviews 1 informant 3 interviews 1 informant 4 interviews time span of data collection from first to last interview between 5 months and 5 years

4. Category scheme (prel) 1 Prayers 1.1Type of Prayer 1.1.1 Meditative 1.1.2 For others (the informant prays for others) 1.1.3 With others 1.1.4 Intercessionary (others for the informant) 1.1.5 Petitionary 1.1.6 Recitatonary/written prayers 1.1.7 Praying artefacts 1.1.8 Laying on of hands 1.1.9 Glossolaly 1.1.10 Prayer walks 1.1.11 Repetitionary 1.2 Content of prayer 1.2.1 Of recovery 1.2.2 Of miracle 1.2.3 Thanks 1.2.4 Assignment 1.2.5 Why 1.2.6 Extra time 1.2.7 For help in the disease 1.2.8 Specific other topics 1.2.9 General other topics 1.3 Answers of prayer 1.4 Not answer of prayer 1.5 Technically about prayers (when, how, why) 1.6 What happens inside the informant during prayer 1.7 Not be able to pray 1.8 What is prayer 1.9 Changes in the prayers (content/patterns) due to the crisis 2. Religious literature and the bible 2.1 Technically about reading the bible (when, how, why) 2.2 Objects of identification in the bible 2.3 Other religious literature 2.4 What happens inside the informant during bible reading 2.5 What happens inside the informant during reading other religious literature 2.6 Changes in reading the bible and/or other religious literature due to crisis 2.9 Important bible passages during crisis 2.10 Bible study group 2.11 Other relevant 3 Private ritual 4 Public ritua 5 Disease versus meaning 6 Relationship to God 6.1 Religious doubt versus no doubt 6.2 Thoughts about God 6.3 Changes 6.4 Thoughts about God 6.5 Changes 6.6 Versus disease, life and death 6.7 God close / God distant 6.8 Strong religious experiences 6.9 Guidance, being led 6.10 Prophecies 6.11 Assignment 6.12 Trust in God 7 Reflections about the interview 8 This crisis versus earlier crisis’s 9 Congregation 10 Miracles 11 Song/music 12 Fasting 13 Positive effects of the disease 13.1 Evangelizing for others due to the disease 13.2 Gives new knowledge/wisdom 13.3 Changes the relationship to God 13.4 Other 14 Symptom relieves 15 The example of other people 16 Icons and religious art 17 Angels and associated 18 Pastoral counselling 19 Sacred meanings to medicines or medical/surgical interventions

5. Changes in prayers with regard to frequency and intercession prayers and some related issues

7. the degree the cancer disease changes the life and the relationship to God seems to depend on if the cancer disease is the first major crisis in the informants life or if he/she has gone through several crises before.

9. a)prayers seams to have different kinds of functions and some of these becomes more important during crisis. The clearest example so far is the social function of intercession prayers b)religiosity, at least in the sense of religious activity seams to change due to changed life situation.

10. The coping function of strong religious experiences

12. Painting by Ida Orelma

14. Disease versus meaning: Recognizing the positive outcome of the own suffering for other people as a way of coping

15. The mechanism of giving sacred meanings to medicines or medical/surgical interventions.

16. “…I was thinking… all those forms of treatment that I have received that this is also a sort of a spiritual experience… //… if we talk about chemo therapy that it is Christ himself that comes… // … during the second period of chemo therapy it was very hard for me but then it was a co patient who was laying in the bed next to me who made me see that if our lord have created everything including these plants then of course it can be so that it is through these plants that we receive the blessing of God and became well again… and this helped me much that time so I remember from that moment I thought that it is Him that comes through the substance and he is much more… manifest perhaps… and the substance in… yeas really in the blood stream, yeas in the whole organism of mine… and this also goes for the radiation therapy… // … that God himself is the radiation beam…”