Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Health Spirituality'

This dissertation is based on the study of the spirituality of caretakers, mainly physicians and nurses, with regard to its effect on the care of terminally ill patients. Terminally ill patients, in addition to physical symptoms, have many spiritual issues in their final days of life. While historically spiritual care has been available for many centuries it is becoming more and more neglected with the advancement of science and technology. These advances, however, do not significantly alleviate patient suffering related to psychological, spiritual, and social aspects. Now there is a renewed interest in the area of spirituality and people have again become aware of the importance of caring for the dying patients and their families. Numerous studies over the last two decades support the therapeutic effect of spiritual care, but these studies concentrate more on the perspective of the patient and the family members.

The literature search is based on the historical development of spirituality in various parts of the world. This approach gives a broader perspective on spirituality that goes beyond the limitations of religion and culture. Spirituality is further explored in terms of psychological, philosophical, and sociological contexts. The psychological areas focus on existential themes. The review also incorporates other psychological aspects such as psychodynamic, humanistic, imaginal, and transpersonal principles. Additional areas of the review emphasize and examine the importance of spiritual care relating to elderly patients.

The current dissertation is based on patients in a cancer hospital who were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). The spirituality of caretakers was evaluated by interviews, surveys, and case studies. The evaluation was mainly carried out on experienced physicians in an academic setting and on those involved in the care of the patients in the ICU. The results show that spirituality of caretakers has a beneficial effect on the spiritual care provided to the patients.

Preparing nursing students to address spiritual needs of clients is a challenge for nursing education programs. There is minimal evidence in the literature exploring the spiritual needs of clients from the perspectives of nursing students and faculty. While licensed nurses can confirm the importance of meeting the physiological and psychosocial needs of the client, nursing professional practice standards demand nurses include acknowledging the client’s spirituality. As required by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), American Association of Credentialing Nursing (AACN), and the National Council State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN), spiritual care is a requirement, not an option. By determining how nursing students are prepared to address the spiritual needs of the client in a large Midwestern baccalaureate nursing program, nursing faculty can identify effective methods of including spirituality in the nursing education curriculum. This research study used qualitative inquiry and focused on understanding experiences from nursing students and nurse educators. A grounded theory approach was utilized to assess faculty and student perceptions of preparation of senior baccalaureate nursing (BSN) students to address the spiritual needs of the clients. Two themes emerged from the faculty interviews: students need a clear definition of spirituality, and students are not prepared to address the spiritual needs of clients with a spiritual assessment tool. Three themes emerged from the student interviews: students cannot clearly define spirituality versus culture versus religion, they are not equipped to do a spiritual assessment, and there is a lack of role models by both nursing faculty and staff in the clinical setting demonstrating how to address the spiritual needs of clients. There are two sub-categories that support how to define spirituality and how to better equip students to address the spiritual needs of clients. Using a grounded theory approach, the outcomes of this study support a new theory to facilitate nurse inclusion of spirituality in the nursing curriculum.

This study provides support for integration in the nursing curriculum and inclusion of teaching strategies focusing on spirituality in the nursing curriculum. Findings from this study help minimize gaps in the literature by contributing new knowledge about spirituality in the nursing curriculum that previously had not been empirically identified.

Standards for integration of spirituality and religion within mental health training continue to be ambiguous. Although increased attention has incorporated such diversity into multiculturalism, proficiency remains inadequate among non-religiously affiliated individuals and institutions. This study examined competence levels utilizing the Revised Spiritual Competence Scale II (SCS-R-II) and the Spiritual and Religious Competency Assessment (SARCA). Participants were 125 students attending accredited counseling, psychology, and social work schools in the United States. Counselor trainees scored highest on both measures as did students with very strong personal religious affiliation and attendees of Christian affiliated schools. Implications and future recommendations are discussed.

The purpose of this project was to locate a potential funding source and write a grant proposal to fund a mindfulness-based therapy program, entitled Coping through Mindfulness and Spirituality, for adults experiencing depression at Alma Family Services in Los Angeles County, California. A literature review was conducted to examine topics related to mindfulness and spirituality and their usefulness in coping with symptoms of depression. The purpose of the proposed program was to decrease depressive symptoms using Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT). The grant was written to the Weingart Foundation. The actual submission or funding for this grant proposal was not a requirement for the successful completion of the project.

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the relationship among strength of religious faith, a set of demographic variables, and self-perceived spiritual competence of master’s-level clinical mental health counseling students enrolled in CACREP accredited programs. The study methodology was a quantitative correlational survey research design using multiple linear regression analysis.

Data were collected from 178 participants through an online survey comprised of three instruments: the Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Scale (Plante & Boccaccini, 1997), and the Revised Spiritual Competency Scale (Dailey, Robertson, & Gill, 2015), and a demographic survey developed by the researcher. Results of the multiple linear regression revealed that 30% of the total variance in scores on the SCS-R-II was predicted by the model. In terms of individual relationships between the independent variables and scores on the Spiritual Competency Scale, strength of religious faith (p < .001), sexual orientation (p = .027), and awareness of the ASERVIC Spiritual Competencies (p = .034) each were statistically significant predictors of higher scores on the SCS-R-II. The remaining seven predictor variables – age, gender, ethnicity (2), university affiliation, exposure to SRIC in program, and hours completed in program – were not found to be statistically significant predictors of scores on the SCS-R-II.

Based on 13 months of ethnographic research, this dissertation documents how the people of Tautu, Vanuatu incorporate the global flows of biomedicine and Christianity into their local knowledge structures and social practices and the resulting integration of biomedical, Christian, and traditional medical ideologies and practices. This integration is articulated in Tautuans’ theories of illness causation and categories of care; knowledge practice; diagnosis and treatment processes; definitions of health and illness; and healing narratives. At the center of this creative, integrative process are traditional social relations based on kinship and exchange and the related principles of pragmatism, “dividuality,” and reciprocity. However, Christianity—specifically “gift” narratives in which Tautuans explain that their healing knowledge and powers come from God—is the main discursive frame through which Tautuans create a middle ground between “traditional” and “modern/Western.”

These gift narratives serve multiple purposes. First, they allow patients and practitioners to organize their past experiences and to make sense of suffering. Second, in these “gift” narratives Tautuans authorize certain aspects of traditional medicine by reconstructing them as Christian knowledge. Third, through these narratives Tautuans are carving out a space where biomedical, traditional, Christian forms of healing are complimentary practices, as the idea that all types of medicine are “gifts from God” causes the categories of biomedical, traditional, and Christian to fall away and to be subsumed by the larger heading of “spiritual healing.” Fourth, these gift narratives are also religious narratives about salvation intended to convert people not only to kastom medicine but also to the Christian faith. Finally, these narratives are an attempt to appropriate and indigenize biomedical ideologies and forms of knowledge production and to gain international recognition of the efficacy of traditional medicinal plants; these narratives, then, illustrate Tautuans’ desires to globalize their local practices and to engage with the modern world on their own terms.

The purpose of this research was to further elucidate two related factors about recovery from addiction to alcohol and/or other drugs. The lived experiences of participants gave texture to this qualitative phenomenological study and focused on gaining an appreciation of the characteristics of long-term sobriety. There has been a gap in the literature regarding what transpires over time for those who remain sober/clean for five years or more. One particular aspect was the role that spirituality played in long-term recovery. While spirituality has been studied, it has not often been addressed from a different perspective than that offered through the prevalent 12-Step model. For this study, members of the Bahá'í Faith from across the United States were recruited through a Bahá'í listserve to obtain the broadest possible demographics within this target group. The significance of spirituality and/or aspects of their faith were an integral part of the participants' lives and provided a framework that encouraged them to be of service to others and help others in community-building initiatives. Key themes were identified as education, self-determination, spirituality, and transformation. The length of sobriety of the participants ranged from five to 40 years and participants were between 25 and 73 years of age. A shift has gradually taken place in substance abuse treatment from a paradigm of relapse prevention into a process of community recovery and "wellbriety." This most recent approach is in keeping with the Bahá'í principles leading to the acquisition and practice of virtues or strengths of character. Character strengths in turn helped the participants effectively navigate the challenges of "living life on life's terms." Living by these principles led participants to develop a new sense of self brought about through self-determination and self-efficacy. Together, self-determination and self-efficacy also formed the research's theoretical framework. Insights shared by the participants can inform and help those with less time in recovery, in addition to those who may still struggle with active addiction, early recovery, and new understanding of "spirituality" in this context. As such, implications from this research address recommended improvements in education, research, and practice, as well as potential policy changes.

Conventional studies of veterans’ longitudinal mental health approach the topic through the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) lens. This qualitative study shifts the focus from a PTSD psychosomatic-centric approach to a psycho-spiritual examination of the sequela of war in the veteran psyche: this approach has been named in recent literature, moral injury. Utilizing a methodological approach situated in the philological region of hermeneutics, a Reductionist dialectic was selected. This study illustrates that the quotidian war poetry read by this researcher exhibits psycho-spiritual moral injury. The relevant emergent themes of the study include: (a) the function of memory, of not-forgetting, (b) the psychological torment of psychic dismemberment, (c) the acknowledgment of suffering in archetypal salt, and (d) the not-forgetting component of psychic re-memberment necessary for resolving moral injury. Reorienting the focus from PTSD to moral injury, this study finds critical implications to helping war veterans with their sequela of war. For instance, conventional treatments for PTSD such as prolonged exposure (PE) or cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), while effective for treating the co-morbid symptoms of PTSD, do not address the profound insights which can be gleaned from re-examination of the phenomena in terms of moral injury. Most importantly, moral injury as a psycho-spiritual dilemma is something for which the veteran must embrace primacy in seeking resolution, working outside of the typical evidenced-based therapies. This comports with the alchemists who cautioned: Only by working with intense focus on self-transformation can the lapis philosophorum be achieved.

The purpose of this study was to explore the experience of healing and transformation that occurs for wounded healers who brings their ancestral story and related traumas and resiliencies to consciousness. The primary research questions guiding the study were: What is the journey of healing that occurs for wounded healers exploring their ancestral story and related intergenerational traumas and resiliencies? What is the transformation that happens in the course of this healing?

Using narrative and art-based methodologies, the study involved interviewing six healing professionals who had consciously addressed the wounding passed down to them from previous generations. Themes of healing and transformation were identified using Riessman’s (2008) coding and narrative analysis, Lieblich’s (1998) holistic-content approach to narrative, and art-based inquiry.

The findings indicate that on the journey of bringing ancestral story to consciousness the participants experienced healing and transformation in the following ways: breaking ancestral patterns, receiving support from the ancestors, reclaiming ancestral heritage, deepening awareness of the healing power of nature, acquiring a new sense of identity, and finding purpose. Additional research comparing the particular types of modalities involved in healing and transforming ancestral trauma would be of benefit.

A traumatic and life-altering event, such as sexual assault, can adversely affect a survivor’s psychological well-being. In conjunction with an individual’s natural resources, religious and/or spiritual resources can provide additional and critical support as the realities of the Interpersonal trauma come to fruition. However, many mental health professionals do not feel comfortable or prepared to include spiritual or religious issues, within the therapeutic relationship. The objective of this research study was to examine the connection between a female sexual assault victim’s perceived God-image, attachment to a perceived God-image, and her experienced psychological distress, when processing Interpersonal trauma. This study employed Bowlby’s attachment theory and Rizzuto’s God-image theory. A convenience, nonprobability sample of 132 women, 18 years or older, who had experienced a sexual assault (but not within the past two years), completed a demographic questionnaire, Froese and Bader’s God Questionnaire, and Lovibond and Lovibond’s Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21). Data was analyzed using a MANOVA. The data concluded a lack of significant difference between the participant’s perceived God image, her attachment to a God-image, and her selfreported levels of psychological distress due to the traumatic, Interpersonal experience. In the future, qualitatively analyzing this population would further explore valid themes and personal perspectives on the relationship between perceived God-image, an individual’s attachment to a God-image, and her experienced psychological distress, which may further be used to inform mental health professionals on the most conducive treatment for sexual assault survivors.

More people in the United States are approaching retirement age, a trend which has resulted in increased study on life satisfaction and psychological well-being of the elderly. Previous researchers have focused on the relationship between religious social support and life satisfaction; however, there remains a gap in the literature regarding how race and gender may influence this association. Knowledge of interactions between religiosity, gender, and race will enable counselors working with different groups of religiously inclined clients to develop and implement religious-based interventions specific to their clients. Guided by the social ecological model, the purpose of this study was to examine how gender and race influence religious social relationships and psychological well-being, optimism, and self-rated health among the elderly, using data from the Religion, Aging, and Health Survey. Pearson bivariate correlations and hierarchical linear regression were used to examine multicollinearity among variables and whether the association between the religious variables measured and the psychological well-being of the elderly varied by gender and/or race. All 3 religious constructs significantly predicted positive well-being outcomes. However, only gender and race interactions were significant for the religious-based relationships with others variable. Income and marital status were found to be significant covariats for this study. Also, both income and marital status were significantly associated with the relationship between religious variables and the psychological well-being of the elderly. Findings from this study can aid religious leaders and public health practitioners in developing programs and policies to improve perception of health and psychological wellbeing among the elderly.