Vol.:(0123456789) Journal of Religion and Health https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-019-00820-y 1 3 ORIGINAL PAPER Clinicians’ Perspectives on Caring for Muslim Patients Considering Fasting During Ramadan Mohamed Ezzat Khamis Amin 1  · Ahmed Abdelmageed 2 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2019 Abstract This study explores clinicians’ perspectives on factors afecting care provided to Muslim patients who decide to fast during Ramadan. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposeful sample of clinicians in Egypt (11) and the USA (10). Framework analysis was conducted through mapping data to constructs within social cognitive theory. Data were mapped into clinician’s belief in ability to care for those patients, belief in group’s ability to provide care, anticipated consequences of providing such care, knowledge, learning by observing other clinicians, cultural norms and perceived acceptability and prevalence of care provision, environmental barriers and opportunities, and communication approach. Keywords Ramadan · Islam · Culture · Social cognitive theory · Qualitative Introduction The world’s Muslim population is expected to increase from 1.6 billion in 2010 to 2.2 billion in 2030, making up 26.4% of the world’s total projected population of 8.3 billion. The world’s Muslim population makes Islam the world’s second-largest reli- gion after Christianity (Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life 2011). To this Mus- lim population, fasting during Ramadan, the ninth month of the lunar calendar, is considered as one of the fve pillars of Islam. From dawn to sunset, healthy Muslims are expected to abstain “completely” from eating, drinking, and sexual intercourse. The usual practice is to have a meal before fasting starts at dawn and another meal after sunset. * Mohamed Ezzat Khamis Amin m.amin@bau.edu.lb Ahmed Abdelmageed aabdelmageed@manchester.edu 1 Faculty of Pharmacy, Beirut Arab University, P.O. Box 11, 5020 Beirut, Lebanon 2 College of Pharmacy, Natural and Health Sciences, Manchester University, 10627 Diebold Rd., Fort Wayne, IN 46845, USA