Spiritual coping in rehabilitation–a comparative study: part 2

Abstract

Spiritual coping, which may or may not contain religiosity, may enhance adaptation of clients with chronic illness. Part 1 of this article (Baldacchino et al, 2013) presented the research methodology of this cross-sectional comparative study, which explored the spiritual coping of clients with chronic illness receiving rehabilitation services in Malta (n=44) (lower limb amputation: n=10, chronic heart disease: n=9, osteoarthritis in an institution: n=10 and in the community: n=15) and Norway (n=16) (post-hip/shoulder surgery: n=5; chronic heart disease: n=5; chronic pain: n=6). Data were collected from seven purposive samples by focus groups. Roy's adaptation model (1984) and Neuman's Systems Model (2010) guided the study. Part2 discusses the findings, which consist of one main spiritual coping theme and three sub-themes: 'adopting religious coping strategies, relationship with God, and time for reflection and counting one's blessings'. Commonalities were found in the findings except in one dimension, which was found only in the Malta group, that is, being supported by others with a similar condition. This difference may be a result of the environment in the rehabilitation centres, cultural, and geographical differences between the two countries. While considering the limitations of this study, recommendations are proposed to the rehabilitation and education sectors and further trans-cultural comparative longitudinal research with mixed method approach on various clients with acute, chronic and life-threatening illness.