Religiosity, Gender, and Natural Disasters: A Qualitative Study of Disaster-Stricken Regions in Iran
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While religiosity is emerging as one of the more important subjects in disaster management, identifying gender differences in using religion as a coping method has attracted very little attention. The aim of this study was to explore the effects of religiosity on disaster-affected women and men in the setting of Iran. A field-based investigation using a qualitative approach was carried out to achieve the study’s purpose. Data were collected using in-depth unstructured interviews with 25 participants who had been damaged by recent disasters. Two themes, negative and positive effects of religiosity, and five categories were extracted from the data. Women may be influenced by religion more than men, and thus, they can play key roles in strengthening the positive effects of religiosity.
KeywordsReligiosity Gender Natural disaster Iran
The authors gratefully appreciate the collaborations of the disaster-affected people and health officials in order to collecting data in the fields.
The study was funded by Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
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