Abstract
Scientific research has provided theoretical evidence on the implementation of religious/spiritual interventions (RSI) as a complementary health therapy, where spiritual improvements are also a factor to consider. Despite the above, there are few studies that have evaluated the clinical applicability of these findings. This study was an intervention with older and younger adults divided into two treatment groups and one control group. What is expected is that the two treatment groups will score better than the control group; however, the group with a Christian spiritual focus is expected to perform better than the group without a spiritual focus. Measures of gratitude, meaning of life, forgiveness, spirituality, religiosity, and expected prejudice were recorded. The hypothesis is fulfilled that Christian spirituality enhances psychological interventions on factors associated with personal well-being, mainly in older adults: spirituality (M = 26.00, SE = 2.127/M = 29.38, SE = 1.953, t (12) = −2.436, p < 0.05, r = 0.58), goals (M = 22.92, SE = 1.022/M = 24.54, SE = 0.739, t (12) = −2.298, p < 0.05, r = 0.55), and benevolence (M = 17.31, SE = 1.554/M = 21.08, SE = 1.603, t (12) = −3.310, p < 0.05, r = 0.69). The most powerful results of the study are those associated with religiosity/spirituality.
Highlights
Koenig [12] describes how the definition of spirituality has changed and expanded over the years as researchers have examined its relationship to mental and physical health. These aspects are relevant when addressing the issue in the population, since to analyze the impact of R/S, there are substantial differences and/or difficulties when defining R/S that must be taken into account, mainly in relation to R/S itself; the modern clinical version of spirituality includes religion, positive indicators of mental health, and the secular as part of its definition
In Bernabé-Valero [10], some of the items used to measure the religiosity of young Spaniards by the Santa María Foundation in their sociological surveys and other previous psychological studies were taken as a reference, generating the Brief Scale of Religiosity (BSR), which is made up of four items: Degree of religiosity, Frequency of worship attendance, Frequency of prayer, and Importance of God in one’s life
Goncalves et al [18] and Goncalves et al [23] show that despite the different models, facilitators, and populations, among others, religious/spiritual interventions (RSI) are associated with benefits and that there is evidence of reliability of the use of R/S as a complementary treatment; that is, the religious/spiritual has its negative effects, it is generally associated with greater well-being, and better mental and physical health [45], as has been reflected in the results of the present study
Summary
Compared to adolescence, less attention has been paid to adult development [9] Some important factors, such as religiosity/spirituality (R/S), could have a crucial influence on the health of older people, especially in old age and aging. Koenig [12] describes how the definition of spirituality has changed and expanded over the years as researchers have examined its relationship to mental and physical health These aspects are relevant when addressing the issue in the population, since to analyze the impact of R/S, there are substantial differences and/or difficulties when defining R/S that must be taken into account, mainly in relation to R/S itself; the modern clinical version of spirituality includes religion, positive indicators of mental health, and the secular as part of its definition. Everyone is spiritual, including atheists and agnostics, so it has great clinical utility
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