Spirituality in Sustainable Mental Health Protection: Evidence from Vocational Training of Information Technology Professionals

Abstract

This chapter reviews theory existing research and presents the authors’ analysis of in-depth interviews with information technology (IT) professionals on the relationship between spirituality and mental health protection. The participants of the study are representatives of a specific professional group burdened with many stereotypes concerning their psychological functioning, often considered to be far from sustainable mental health. Extant research shows evidence of a negative correlation between spirituality and mental health diseases such as anxiety, depression, suicide, and schizophrenia. The chapter is focused on (a) operationalization of spirituality as a biologically rooted phenomenon in the light of David Hay’s conception, (b) identifying the relationship between spirituality and sustainable mental health, (c) analysis of this relationship by exploiting qualitative research design, i.e., in-depth biographical interviews from IT professionals. The results show that IT professionals treat a high sense of spirituality as a personal competence, which makes them be more involved in their work and feel happy in their personal lives, which results in sustainable mental health protection on an existential level. Moreover, spirituality is narratively understood as a biographical phenomenon, which plays an important role to provide courage to face new challenges, providing a feeling of satisfaction, and creating empathy to others in the professional life of IT experts. Spiritual evidently can create happiness in the personal and professional lives of IT professionals and develops more patience in tough times, which are also some of the signs of good mental health. Based on our results, we propose organizations introduce professional training programs to enhance spirituality in IT professionals for sustainable mental health.