Religious/spiritual coping in informal caregivers of children with cleft lip and/or dysphagic palate

ABSTRACT Objectives: to identify the use of religious/spiritual coping in informal caregivers of children with cleft lip and/or palate, dysphagic, powered exclusively by probe. Methods: descriptive and cross-sectional study, including 30 informal caregivers. For data collection, a Sociodemographic Questionnaire and the Brief Religious/Spiritual Coping Scale were used. For statistical analysis, ANOVA, Student’s t and Spearman’s correlation tests were used, with a significance level of 5%. Results: the use of religious/spiritual coping was high among participants (mean=3.71), with a predominance of positive (mean=3.30) compared to negative (mean=1.88). It was evident that the greater the reported importance of religiosity/spirituality in the participants’ lives, the greater the positive coping (p=0.001). Conclusions: informal caregivers used positive religious/spiritual coping as a way of coping with care demands related to the child’s health condition. These findings point to the importance of including spirituality/religiosity as health indicators.

The Dark Core of personality: Individual’s expression of locus of control and spirituality

Dark personality traits are amongst the most popular research topics recently. In 2018 the Dark Core of personality was proposed as a common core to capture all aversive subclinical manifestations. In this study, we aimed at investigating how individuals with high scores on the Dark Core perceive control (i.e., internally or externally) and express their spirituality. Participants were 614 adults, mostly females (85.17%), aged from 18 to 73 years-old (M = 36.00; SD = 12.26), and identified themselves as agnostics (22.63%) or Catholics (19.05%). Participants responded to a measure that assessed the Dark Core of personality (D35), the Locus of Control Scale (ELOCUS), and the WHOQOL-spirituality, religiousness, and personal beliefs (WHOQOL-SRPB). We used a path analysis model to estimate their connection. Results indicated that the Dark Core better predicts external locus of control, which respectively predicts connect, strength, and faith, which can be considered as spiritual coping strategies. We concluded that men and women tend to blame external forces when things do not go their way and use personal beliefs to relieve emotional distress.

Implication of social isolation on mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic: a look at its religious and spiritual coping

China was the center of Covid-19 which rapidly spread out all over the world. The rapid outbreak of Covid-19 in Asian countries has severely affected psychological and social life of people. Which also has a great influence on religion and faith. Spiritual and religious copping is an effective approach for mental relaxation and belief on the creator specifically during the Covid-19 outbreak. The main purpose of this study is observing the situation of Asian countries existing literature on human psychology and social life further it also explores religious and spiritual coping during Covid-19. Different studies were retrieved from online sources. In which the published articles were classified according to three themes such as human psychology, religious and spiritual coping and social life during Covid-19. It is evident from the literature that covid-19 has a great influence on human psychology. Majority people suffered from anxiety and depression in these tough days of life. Also, most of the people suffered from fear, depression, stress, loneliness during lockdown which effects their social life. The positive point was found that religion and spirituality helping people to reduce their stress and create positivity in their life. Spirituality helps out people in mental relaxation at times of crisis and epidemic situations while religious copings and strong believe on creator reduce anxiety and depression.

The Role of Age, Religion/Spirituality, and Humor in the Optimism of Community-Dwelling Older Adults

Current literature reveals that perceived optimism decreases with age (D’Argembeau et al., 2011; Newby-Clark & Ross, 2003). However, replication of these studies is limited. In particular, a lack of investigations exists in examining optimism as individuals transition across older adulthood. Considering the dearth of literature that examines the influence of religion/spirituality and humor on the optimism of older adults, 203 members of Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes, age 65 years and older, from Idaho and California completed pen and paper or electronic surveys. The study used hierarchical multiple regression analysis to examine the impact of age, positive religion/spirituality coping skills, and humor on the optimism of community-dwelling older adults. The participant’s gender significantly explained a 19.3% variance in the optimism scores, whereas age did not significantly contribute to the model (R Change =.000). Positive religious or spiritual coping skills and humor significantly contributed to the variance in optimism scores, explaining a 2.3% and 21.6% variance, respectively. In the final model (F (1, 202, = 13.78, p = .000), all variables except age significantly contributed to the model with humor revealing the highest beta value (beta = .467, p = .000). The findings suggest that optimism is perceived differently by gender but does not change with age. While positive religious coping skills influence optimism, internal or external humor strategies may be more helpful to instill, promote or maintain optimism in older adults. The addition of humor assessment items in wellness evaluations and humor-infused interventions may foster optimism in community-dwelling older adults.

More Than Conquerors: Embracing Transformational Leadership and Spiritual Coping During the Pandemic

The global pandemic, COVID-19, has greatly impacted the lives of many, including Christian social workers in practice, in social work education and in their worship. At the height of the pandemic, the operations within practice settings, higher education and places of worship changed and led to a host of challenges. In this paper, the co-authors use a reflective lens to highlight the challenges experienced by Christian social workers. Further, they provide examples and recommendations associated with spiritual coping and transformational leadership and for addressing professional and personal interruptions caused by the pandemic

Building Emotional Resilience: Japanese Women’s Religious and Spiritual Coping Strategies in the Time of COVID-19

This paper explores the moderating effect of religious and spiritual coping mechanisms on the COVID-19 pandemic-induced emotional distress among a group of Japanese women practising temple meditation and yoga. A growing body of literature identifies religion and spirituality as sources of coping mechanisms for emotional distress during the pandemic, in that they enable individuals to find ways to improve subjective well-being and quality of life. The study uses a descriptive phenomenological approach, drawing upon narratives collected between September 2020 and June 2021 from thirty-two respondents composed of a mix of religious-affiliated and self-identified non-religious women practising temple meditation and yoga. Findings indicate that more women, including religious affiliates, have favoured spiritual coping mechanisms in the forms of meditation and body–mind practices to build emotional resilience. This reflects a quest for greater subjective well-being to compensate for the increased burden of emotional care during the pandemic. Overall, while organised religions have come to appropriate more holistic forms of spirituality to respond to demands of emotional care, body–mind spiritual practices have become more appealing for younger religious and non-religious Japanese women alike, in that they downplay gender-conforming ideas of the care economy with its emphasis on dedication and dependency.

Promoting African American Activism: Experiences of Racism-Related Stress and Spirituality

This study investigates how spirituality, psychological orientation to religion, and racism-related stress are associated with African American activism. Measures of Race-Related Stress, Quest Religious Orientation, Fundamentalism Religious Orientation, and Intrinsic Spirituality were used as exogenous variables. African American Activism was the endogenous variable. Results based on a sample of 148 self-identified African American adults revealed that quest religious orientation, intrinsic spirituality, and racism-related stress were positively associated with activism-related behaviors, while fundamentalist religious orientation was negatively but not significantly associated with activism-related behaviors. Paths of a multiple regression model were analyzed using Mplus version 8. Findings shed light on the interplay of spiritual coping resources and the personal impact of racism in mobilizing an activist response to oppression.

End-of-life experience and its toll on quality of life and spirituality: a cross-sectional study

Background: Breast and cervical/uterine cancer affect body parts that have symbolic meaning for women. Women with this diagnosis at the end-of-life often experience anxiety and depression that severely impacts their quality of life (QoL). Aims: This study aims to determine how the end-of-life experience impacts on the QoL and spirituality of women with advanced cancer. Methods: End-of-life patients and their caregivers were evaluated regarding religious and spiritual coping, depression and self-efficacy. Caregivers were interviewed regarding patients' QoL at the end-of-life. A spearman correlation test was used to evaluate correlation between variables. Findings: Several dimensions of positive religious and spiritual coping stood out for patients at the end of life. However, patients often experienced a negative revaluation of God. Patients reported experiencing low self-efficacy, depression and high levels of stress. The length of hospital stay, time spent in intensive care units and depression also correlated to the amount of worry and stress a patient experienced. Conclusions: The end-of-life patients had a poor quality of life, and experienced depression, but also used spiritual beliefs and religion as a means of coping with their end-of-life experience.

Faith and spirituality as psychological coping mechanism among female aid workers: a qualitative study

Despite evidence that faith-based and spiritual coping supports people’s mental health, stigmata prevail in the aid sector around the need for psychological support in general and around this coping mechanism in particular. This qualitative research examines female aid workers’ experiences and aims to elucidate how this mechanism supports mental health in stressful, conflict, or disaster-affected living and working environments. Inductive thematic analysis of 14 semi-structured interviews reveals three themes around (a) specificities of the aid work context, (b) benefits and gains through this coping mechanism and related processes, and (c) potential downsides. Interview findings suggest a faith-based and spiritual approach helped interviewees feel grounded, calm, resilient, and present in difficult environments. Participants experienced a resolute identity, space for self-care, as well as access to community, belonging, and connection across national, faith, and spiritual boundaries. Results raise the importance of de-stigmatizing faith-based and spiritual coping and invite further discussion among practitioners.