ArticleInternational journal of circumpolar health2018
"The prayer circles in the air": a qualitative study about traditional healer profiles and practice in Northern Norway.
Article in International journal of circumpolar health, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed.
- Amelioration of Adults' Mental Health Conditions and Symptoms Through Spiritual Energy Therapy: Randomized Controlled Trial.Neuropsychopharmacology reports · 2025Trial
- Between Leaves, Prayers, and Healing Hands: A Cross-Regional Scoping Review of Ritual Healers and Plant-Based Community Knowledge.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Trends in prevalence and associations of complementary and alternative medicine use in Norway 2012-2024: Insights from seven biennial cross-sectional studies.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2025Article
- The association between health anxiety and visits to traditional and complementary medicine providers in Norway: the Tromsø7 Study.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2025Article
- The association of religious factors with mental health-service utilisation and satisfaction in a mixed Sámi and Norwegian adult population: Adopting the SAMINOR 2 Questionnaire Survey.International journal of circumpolar health · 2023Article
- Sámi traditional medicine: practices, usage, benefit, accessibility and relation to conventional medicine, a scoping review study.International journal of circumpolar health · 2021Article
- Explaining the Process of Spiritual healing of Critically-ill Patients: A Grounded Theory Study.Ethiopian journal of health sciences · 2020Article
- Use of traditional and complementary medicine among Norwegian cancer patients in the seventh survey of the Tromsø study.BMC complementary and alternative medicine · 2019Article
- Prevalence, and health- and sociodemographic associations for visits to traditional and complementary medical providers in the seventh survey of the Tromsø study.BMC complementary and alternative medicine · 2019Article
- Prevalence and associations for use of a traditional medicine provider in the SAMINOR 1 Survey: a population-based study on Health and Living Conditions in Regions with Sami and Norwegian Populations.BMC complementary and alternative medicine · 2017Article
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4 authors.
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Abstract
In Northern Norway, traditional healing has been preserved by passing down the knowledge through generations. Religious prayers of healing (reading) and Sami rituals (curing) are examples of methods that are used. We have examined traditional healers' understanding of traditional healing, the healing process and their own practice, as well as what characteristics healers should have. Semi-structured individual interviews and focus group interviews were conducted among 15 traditional healers in two coastal Sami municipalities in Norway. The traditional healers understood traditional healing as the initiation of the patient's self-healing power. This power was initiated through healing rituals and explained as the power of God and placebo effect. During the healing ritual, the doctor's medical diagnoses, the patient's personal data and a prayer in the name of The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit were used in combination with steel and elements from the nature. The traditional healers stated that they had to be trustworthy, calm and mentally strong. Healers who claimed that they had supernatural abilities (clairvoyant or warm hands) were regarded as extra powerful. According to the participants in this study, the healers must be trustworthy, calm and mentally strong. Moreover, these traditional healers drew on information from conventional medicine when performing their rituals.
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