INTRODUCTIONSingaporeans are superstitious, and medical staff are no exception to the rule. We conducted a survey to determine the prevalence of superstitious beliefs and practices amongst doctors, nurses and medical students in Singapore.

METHODSInternet and face-to-face surveys of 68 respondents, all of whom completed the survey after being threatened with curses and hexes.

RESULTSSixty-eight doctors, nurses and medical students responded to our survey. Only 11 admitted to being superstitious, yet 31 believed in the ill-fortune associated with eating bao or meat dumplings, 6 in the nefarious powers of black (5) or red (1) outfits on call, and 14 believed that bathing (6 insisting on the powers of the seven-flower bath) prior to the onset of a call portended good fortune, in terms of busy-ness of a call. Twenty-four believed in "black clouds", i.e. people who attracted bad luck whilst on call, and 32 refused to mouth the words "having a good call" until the day after the event. We discovered 2 hitherto undescribed and undiscovered superstitions, namely the benefits of eating bread and the need to avoid beef, for the good and ill fortune associated with their ingestion.

DISCUSSIONSuperstitious practices are alive and well in modern-day Singapore, the practice not necessarily being restricted to the poorly-educated or foolish.

The purpose of this study is to construct the nursing-policy and nursing-theory of Korean style by understanding the type of recognition and attitude immanent in Korean people through of Korean people to the Shamanism. And this paper is using Q methodology by operant definition. Because individual recognition and attitude to Shammanism is very subjective and individualistic and many-sided. Q statements in this paper are ultimately 38 statements divided into 5 regions, which are abstracted from 285 Q samples. 38 persons in all are objects of P-population. The results of analyses on the characters of each type are as follows. The men who belong to type I is positive to the Shamanism in recognition and attitude at the same time. The men who belong to type II are negative the analysis of the recognition and attitude to Shamanism in recognition, but positive to Shamanism in practical attitude. The men who belong to type III are evidently negative to Shamanism in recognition and attitude at the same time. The men who belong to type IV are positive to Shamanism, but negative or reservative to it in attitude. In conclusion, we could affirm that shamanic care-act which modern medicine discard as only superstition is very deeply rooted in the Korean people'need. In short, Korean people is already and always related to Shamnism, whether positively or negatively. I dare to think this paper might contribute the other disciplines of sciences as basic data.
History, Modern 1601- ; Humans ; Male ; Nursing* ; Shamanism* ; Superstitions

BACKGROUND: Negative public attitude toward epilepsy is a common phenomenon all over the world and one of the major factors causing social discrimination against people with epilepsy. In general, those with epilepsy have considerable limitations in their interaction with and adaptation to their surroundings, and some of them find social attitudes more devastating than the disorder itself. METHODS: In order to indicate folk medicines known as an epilepsy treatment among Korean rural residents and to deduce the background of the negative attitudes from analysis of the estimated effect of the folk medicine, a survey was conducted in a Korean rural area. RESULTS: Of 713 persons contacted in the survey, 22% of respondents replied that they knew at least one folk medicine as an epilepsy treatment. About 55% of the folk medicines were superstitious or incantational one such as eating the organs of animals or humans, or soup boiled with the branches of a tree struck by lightening, or with a rope used in a suicidal hanging. From the results, we can deduce the fact that the understanding of epilepsy by the Korean respondents base on the supernatural or superstitious thinking that seem to be attributed to our own unique culture. CONCLUSION: In order to ameliorate prejudices against epilepsy and allow epileptic persons to interact with and adapt to their surrounding properly, not only continuous and repetitive educational efforts but also the sympathy of professional and lay societies regarding epilepsy would be needed.
Animals ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Eating ; Epilepsy* ; Humans ; Medicine, Traditional* ; Prejudice ; Social Discrimination ; Superstitions ; Thinking ; Trees

BACKGROUNDMedical superstitions remain prevalent in today's stressful and technology driven healthcare environment. These irrational beliefs commonly involve night calls, which are periods of volatile workload. In Singapore and Hong Kong, it is commonly held that consumption of steamed buns ("bao") by on-call physicians is associated with increased patient admissions and mortality, due to a homonymous interpretation of the word "bao" in dialect.

MATERIALS AND METHODSA prospective unblinded randomised controlled trial with a permuted block randomisation design was performed on weekdays over 6 weeks. Steamed buns or control food were offered to the internal medicine night-call team of a tertiary-care hospital on a nightly basis. Information on admissions and mortality was collected from the hospital electronic database. Data on sleep patterns and shift duration were obtained by interview.

RESULTSThere were no significant differences in the median number of hours slept on days on "bao" administration versus "control" intervention (2 +/- median absolute variation of 1.5 h vs 2 +/- 1.5 h, P = 0.30) or in the number of hours spent in the hospital (30.8 +/- 1.9 h vs 30.5 +/- 2.2 h, P = 0.09). There were no significant differences in the median number of general ward admissions per night (n = 73 +/- 6 versus 71 +/- 7 admissions, P = 0.35), monitored care unit admissions (4 +/- 1.5 vs 4 +/- 1.5 admissions, P = 0.65) or inpatient mortality (2 +/- 1.5 vs 2 +/- 1.5 deaths per night, P = 0.47).

CONCLUSIONThe consumption of steamed buns ("bao") has no effect on inpatient admissions, mortality, or sleep duration on call. Regardless, our results indicate that the night call in Singapore remains a challenge in terms of workload and shift duration.

It is very important to establish precisely the historical phases of nursing. We nurses should try to acquire the central social position in the health management system in the near the future, the 21st Century. Therefore my treatise aims to orient the desirable phase of the history of nursing through the feministic survey of the history of nursing from the post medieval epoche to the modern epoche. During the time of the renaissance which gave morning light to the modern epoche the antique Athenian thinking of sex was again revived. Athenian excluded the women from the public and autonomous regions. All the medical activity, once dominated by the women, was misfortunately regarded as superstition acted by witches. Accordingly, the nursing women were to hunted as witches. In short, in the early modern epoche, women began to be excluded from the history of medical activities. In the middle modern epoche characterized by the enlightenment movement and early capital economic system, capitalistic patriarchal system began to be formed by change in the economic system. The status of women began to be greatly dropped below by the social distinction of the private dimension of home and the public dimension of job. The woman was deprived of even the occasion to get the official license of medicine and medical institutions were handed to the states or the powerful and rich merchants. Accordingly, nursing acted mainly in the nunnery as the total approach to the patients was destructed wholly and transformed into the means of earning the money. Therefore unprepared low class-women began to engage in nursing only for the money. From then on, nursing activity was tunneled through the dark age for 200 years. In the late modern epoche characterized by the contrast of the accumulated vast capital by industrialization and vast poverty of the peoples, feminism began to float over the surface for the acquisition of equality of men and women from England. A feminist, Nightingale insisted that the women as nurses should be responsible for the healthy life of man. She tried the professional nursing education for women. Accordingly she not only contributed to the intellectual progress of women but also inspired in women the consciousness of the professional job. She tired to realize the ideal of at-that-time-feminists by engaging in nursing all through life. She really paved the road to contemporary nursing. In the near the future, I will write to describe how the late modern epoche nursing has fallen into the dilemma through the 1st and 2nd world wars and matured capitalism and to consider contemporary nursing with the status of women. All these papers aim to give proper recognition of nursing and right orientation of the future 21st Century nursing.
Capitalism ; Consciousness ; Education, Nursing ; England ; Female ; Feminism ; Hand ; History of Nursing ; Humans ; Licensure ; Male ; Nursing ; Poverty ; Superstitions ; Thinking ; World War II

It is very important to establish precisely the historical phases of nursing. We nurses should try to acquire the central social position in the health management system in the near the future, the 21st Century. Therefore my treatise aims to orient the desirable phase of the history of nursing through the feministic survey of the history of nursing from the post medieval epoche to the modern epoche. During the time of the renaissance which gave morning light to the modern epoche the antique Athenian thinking of sex was again revived. Athenian excluded the women from the public and autonomous regions. All the medical activity, once dominated by the women, was misfortunately regarded as superstition acted by witches. Accordingly, the nursing women were to hunted as witches. In short, in the early modern epoche, women began to be excluded from the history of medical activities. In the middle modern epoche characterized by the enlightenment movement and early capital economic system, capitalistic patriarchal system began to be formed by change in the economic system. The status of women began to be greatly dropped below by the social distinction of the private dimension of home and the public dimension of job. The woman was deprived of even the occasion to get the official license of medicine and medical institutions were handed to the states or the powerful and rich merchants. Accordingly, nursing acted mainly in the nunnery as the total approach to the patients was destructed wholly and transformed into the means of earning the money. Therefore unprepared low class-women began to engage in nursing only for the money. From then on, nursing activity was tunneled through the dark age for 200 years. In the late modern epoche characterized by the contrast of the accumulated vast capital by industrialization and vast poverty of the peoples, feminism began to float over the surface for the acquisition of equality of men and women from England. A feminist, Nightingale insisted that the women as nurses should be responsible for the healthy life of man. She tried the professional nursing education for women. Accordingly she not only contributed to the intellectual progress of women but also inspired in women the consciousness of the professional job. She tired to realize the ideal of at-that-time-feminists by engaging in nursing all through life. She really paved the road to contemporary nursing. In the near the future, I will write to describe how the late modern epoche nursing has fallen into the dilemma through the 1st and 2nd world wars and matured capitalism and to consider contemporary nursing with the status of women. All these papers aim to give proper recognition of nursing and right orientation of the future 21st Century nursing.
Capitalism ; Consciousness ; Education, Nursing ; England ; Female ; Feminism ; Hand ; History of Nursing ; Humans ; Licensure ; Male ; Nursing ; Poverty ; Superstitions ; Thinking ; World War II

The purpose of this research is to describe how Hansen's disease patients experienced the modern system of control of Hansen's disease introduced by Japan, and the inimical attitude of society against them in colonial Korea. The study also seeks to reveal the development of the system to eliminate Hansen's disease patients from their home and community to larger society and leprosarium in this era. Sorokdo Charity hospital (SCH), a hospital for Hansen's disease patients, was built in 1916, and vagrant Hansen's disease patients began to be isolated in this hospital beginning in 1917 by the Japanese Government-General of Korea (JGGK). Once the police detained and sent vagrant Hansen's disease patients to SCH, stigma and discrimination against them strengthened in Korean society. Because of strong stigma and discrimination in Korean society, Hansen's disease patients suffered from daily threats of death. First, their family members were not only afraid of the contagiousness of Hansen's disease but also the stigma and discrimination against themselves by community members. If a family had a Hansen's disease patient, the rest of community members would discriminate against the entire family. Furthermore, because Hansen's disease patients were excluded from any economic livelihood such as getting a job, the existence of the patients was a big burden for their families. Therefore, many patients left their homes and began their vagrancy. The patients who could not leave their homes committed suicide or were killed by their family members. The victims of such deaths were usually women, who were at the lower position in the family hierarchy. In the strong Confucian society in Korea, more female patients were killed by themselves than male patients. Moreover, all of patients victims in the murder were women. This shows that the stigma and discrimination against Hansen's disease patients within their families were stronger against women than men. Strong stigma and discrimination made the patients rely on superstition such as cannibalism. Patients believed that there were not any effective medicine. There were a few reports of patients who were cured, and many were treated with chaulmoogra oil in the modern Hansen's disease hospitals. Eating human flesh was known as a folk remedy for Hansen's disease. As such, patients began to kill healthy people, usually children, to eat their flesh. Increased stigma led to increased victims. Hansen's disease patients who left their homes faced many threats during their vagrancy. For survival, they established their own organizations in the late 1920's. The patients who were rejected to be hospitalized in the Western Hansen's disease hospital at Busan, Daegu, and Yeosu organized self-help organizations. The purpose of these organizations was first to secure the medicine supply of chaulmoogra oil. However, as stigma and discrimination strengthened, these organizations formed by Hansen's disease patients demanded the Japanese Government-General of Korea to send and segregate them on Sorok island. They did not know the situation of the inside of this island because news media described it as a haven for patients, and very few patients were discharged from this island to tell the truth. On this island, several hundreds of patients were killed by compulsory heavy labor, starvation, and violence. They were not treated as patients, but as something to be eliminated. Under strong suppression on this island, the patients resisted first by escaping this island. However, in 1937, some patients tried to kill a Korean staff but failed. Attempted murderers were all put in the jail, also located on this island. In 1941, a patient murdered another patient who had harassed other patients, and in 1942, Chunsang Lee, a patient, killed the director of Sorok island. These instances show that there was a system to eliminate Hansen's disease patients in colonial Korea.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Busan ; Cannibalism ; Charities ; Child ; Daegu ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Eating ; Female ; Homicide ; Humans ; Japan ; Jeollanam-do ; Korea ; Leprosy ; Male ; Medicine, Traditional ; Police ; Starvation ; Suicide ; Superstitions ; United Nations ; Violence

OBJECTIVES: Delusions are prevalent even among members of the general population, and persecutory delusions (PDs) and grandiose delusions (GDs) are most frequently found. In this study, we investigated the differences in the dimensions of delusional ideation, reported psychosis proneness, and subjective psychotic symptoms in nonclinical individuals stratified according to the existence of PDs and GDs. METHODS: A total of 311 nonclinical individuals completed the Peters et al Delusions Inventory 40 (PDI-40), Perceptual Aberration Scale (PAS), Magical Ideation Scale (MIS), Schizotypal Personality Scale (STA), and Symptom Check List-90-R (SCL-90-R). Individuals were grouped according to four types based on the existence of PDs and GDs in PDI-40 items. RESULTS: An analysis of variance revealed that the four groups differed significantly in total delusion score, distress, preoccupation, and conviction level of delusional ideation, PAS, MAS, STA, in total SCL-90-R scores, and all SCL-90-R sub symptoms. In post-hoc analysis, the group with both PDs and GDs showed the highest scores in all measures, compared with the other three groups. CONCLUSION: We found that individuals with both PDs and GDs have a tendency to possess another delusional ideation and reported more distress, preoccupation, and conviction level of delusional ideation, psychosis proneness, and subjective symptoms. Existence of both PDs and GDs significantly elevated psychosis proneness in comparison to having only either one of them.
Delusions ; Magic ; Psychotic Disorders

No abstract available.
Burns ; Humans ; Magic ; Taiwan

OBJECTIVES: Magical ideation refers to belief in forms of causation that by conventional standards are invalid, and is considered to be one of prodromal psychotic symptoms in schizophrenia. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between magical ideation and eye gaze pattern in patients with schizophrenia. METHODS: Eye gaze data were recorded in 23 patients with schizophrenia and 23 healthy controls while performing the reality evaluation task, in which participants should judge the realness of real or unreal pictures. RESULTS: Compared to healthy controls, patients with schizophrenia showed decreased fixation, saccade and area of interest (AOI) fixation counts, and reduced scanpath length. Magical Ideation Scale score in patients with schizophrenia showed negative correlation with the scanpath length in the real condition and the AOI fixation count in the unreal condition. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that patients with schizophrenia show restricted visual scanning during reality evaluation, and their restricted visual scanning may play an important role in the magical ideation.
Humans ; Magic ; Saccades ; Schizophrenia