A systematic review of the role of religious communities during the early stage of COVID-19
Mini-Oral Presentation C1.1
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14288/hfjc.v14i3.737Keywords:
Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, Pandemic, Faith CommunitiesAbstract
Background: One of the main avenues that has contributed to outbreaks and community transmissions of COVID-19 is religion, particularly religious communities. At the same time, various religious communities have participated in controlling COVID-19 and mitigating its negative impact on human health and well-being. Purpose: To summarize the roles that religious communities played during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Literature were searched on seven databases between February and July 2020. Exposures considered to be eligible were practices and activities related to religious communities, New Religious Movements (or cults), and/or theology. Empirical studies that report the incidence, outbreak, spread, and/or mitigation of COVID-19 in relation to religious communities, institutions, ritual practices and/or activities were included. Results: Out of 64 observations in 54 articles included in this review, 28.1% (n=18) was related to the detrimental role of religion such as contributing to outbreaks of COVID-19 or causing mistrust/misinformation towards science and public health guidelines among religious groups. The majority of articles (71.9%; n=46) have addressed the beneficial roles of religion where different religious communities have contributed to mitigating the infection, adapting safe approaches to practice religious practices, and helping affected people to cope with mental, social, and emotional health during this unprecedented time. Conclusions: Religious communities have played both detrimental and beneficial role in dealing with COVID-19 pandemic. Key policy recommendations included cancelling religious gatherings and events to mitigate transmission and collaborating with science and government bodies to develop effective mitigation and adaptation strategies to maintain public health during COVID-19 pandemic. Funding: The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and submission of this abstract.
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Copyright (c) 2021 Mikyung Lee, Heejun Lim, M. Shobhana Xavier, Eun-Young Lee
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