Spirituality of people as an instrument health in the context of the Amazon

Abstract

Introduction: The relationship between health and spirituality occurs in many ways, since different people, aiming for better health conditions, use religious expressions, cultural codes and rituals. Traditional Amazonian communities, for example, use medicinal plants and mystical practices to prevent a wide range of illnesses. Objective: Due to the lack of current works that discuss this topic, the main objective of carrying out this research was to identify and bring together the most recent works that address the relationship between health and spirituality in the context of the Amazon. Methodology: This was carried out based on a bibliographical survey through electronic searches in the following databases: SciELO, PubMed, Google Scholar and VHL, using, after the selection stage, 17 articles to construct the literary review. Results: Through data collection and synthesis, a strong link was observed between health and spirituality in Amazonian communities, a link that is characterized by the use of diverse traditional knowledge and beliefs, that is, folk medicine, with the purpose of treatment and cure of diseases. Conclusion: From this work, it is possible to affirm that, in the context of the people of the Amazon, spirituality is widely used as a health instrument. Furthermore, it is noteworthy that, although it was a challenge to value such an important subject and which is often neglected, the construction of this review aimed to enhance and give visibility to plurality and cultural diversity.