Bodily Image Research Articles

Satisfaction following correction of spinal deformity: Cultural and regional effects on outcome

Corrective spine surgery for spinal deformities, such as adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) and adult spinal deformity (ASD), aims to enhance the quality of life by addressing physical impairments. However, the extent of patient satisfaction after surgery, which includes pain management, functional recovery, and psychological contentment, exhibits considerable variation across different cultural and geographical landscapes. This review describes the influence of cultural and regional disparities on postoperative satisfaction in AIS and ASD surgery with a particular emphasis on the disparities between the US and Japan. This review underscores the intricate relationship between surgical outcomes and patient-reported satisfaction metrics. The investigation reveals significant contrasts in patient satisfaction and clinical results between these 2 countries, attributed to divergent cultural expectations, lifestyle adaptations, and perceptions of bodily image. These distinctions are crucial for healthcare professionals to recognize, as they necessitate a culturally nuanced approach to patient care. This comparative review not only enhances the understanding of patient experiences across cultures but also provides valuable guidance for physicians in customizing their strategies to align with the varied expectations of their patients, thereby improving postoperative satisfaction and overall quality of life. This review emphasizes the necessity of a tailored and culturally sensitive approach to managing spinal deformities, underscoring the need to factor in cultural and regional elements to enhance patient satisfaction and surgical outcomes.

Trans‐gender things: Objects and the materiality of trans‐femininity in Ming‐Qing China

AbstractThis article demonstrates that objects, more specifically the trans usage of objects that disrupted and rearticulated the normative alignment of objects, sexed bodies and gender embodiments, served a formative role in helping male‐assigned individuals to cross gender boundaries and achieve trans‐femininity in Ming‐Qing China. The examined objects include the foot‐binding cloth for the feminine bodily image of bound feet, the embroidery needle for ‘womanly work’ and concealing underwear for feminine, penetrated sexual acts. This object‐oriented heuristic offers a new culturally specific approach to trans history beyond identarian frameworks and foregrounds the material multiplicity of trans formations and embodiments in Ming‐Qing China.

CLINICAL VERSUS SUBJECTIVE PREDICTORS OF DISTRESS AND HEALTH SATISFACTION AND THE MODERATING ROLE OF PERCEIVED CONTROL

Abstract Coping with cancer in old age and a general decline in physical health may result in a lack of control over health. Cancer diagnosis tends to be associated with fear, uncertainty, and loss. It also challenges one’s assumptions about the sense of the self and bodily image. This paper explores health perceptions (distress with somatic symptoms, treatment side effects, and satisfaction with health status) in a sample (N=350) of older individuals who reported being treated with cancer (M age=50.23, S.D. =10.91). Three models of hierarchical multiple regressions were performed to estimate the impact of sociodemographic, medical, and psychosocial variables and perceived control over health on subjective health indicators. The results indicated that lower income was associated with greater distress with physical symptoms (Slope = -.12; B= -.17, p =.002), older age was associated with less distress with cancer treatment side effects (Slope = -.01; B= -.12, p =.019) and gender (female) were negatively associated with satisfaction with health status (Slope = -.36; B= -.15, p =.002). Even though the higher stage of cancer was a significant covariate for greater distress with somatic symptoms (Slope = .12; B= .17, p =.001), it was not a significant covariate for distress with treatment side effects and satisfaction with health status. Perceived control over health significantly moderated the association between research covariates and satisfaction with health. These findings suggest that assessing differential aspects of self-rated health may provide health professionals with important information to supplement their diagnosis to understand the patient’s illness experience better.

Believing Into Christ: Relational Faith and Human Flourishing

Believing Into Christ uses very focused attention on a grammatical point of translation to open up an expansive Christian understanding of human flourishing. Natalya A. Cherry, Assistant Professor in Methodist Studies and Theology at Brite Divinity School, explains how a footnote to a World Council of Churches Faith and Order Commission document on the Faith of the Nicene Creed caught her attention because the Latin phrase it referenced (credere in deum) uses an unusual case for the noun with the verb ‘believe’. Using the work of Christine Mohrmann, she argues that because the phrase uses the preposition in plus the accusative case, it implies movement. The English would be better rendered ‘believe into’ rather than ‘believe in’. This phrasing is used not only of God (in deum) but also of Christ (in Christum), or sometimes simply ‘him’ (in eum). The unusual use of Latin replicates biblical Greek pisteuein eis.Once this grammatical point is established, Cherry argues that Augustine understood the significance of this construction and exploited it in his homilies. In her telling, Augustine was not above using bawdy references to convey to his listeners the intimacy of being incorporated into Christ. Augustine’s sermons also clearly distinguish different types of belief: believing Jesus is the Christ, believing what he says, and believing into him (the third being the faith that results in right relationship with God and distinguishes faith of Christians from the faith of demons). Cherry refers to this threefold understanding as Augustine’s ‘formula’.The faith that brings us ‘into’ Christ is far from an intellectual assent that many assume saving faith requires. In fact, part of the importance of Augustine’s ‘formula’ is to show the contrast between ‘believing into’ and the other two ways of believing. It is when we give ourselves to be incorporated into Christ (deification or theosis) that we flourish with the spiritual health and wholeness that God intends for us. Cherry’s description of this incorporation stresses body and movement: our limbs are ‘glued’ to Christ’s limbs and therefore we move as he moves in order to express his love bodily in the world. This image expresses faith working by love.Cherry then outlines how the explicit link that Augustine made between a specific kind of faith and human flourishing faded over time as theologians avoided the bodily image of incorporation and instead systematized Augustine’s threefold formula conceptually. Although theologians could still connect faith and love, the contrast between ‘believe into’ and the other two types of faith in the formula was minimized as all three were stressed as positive aspects of faith. Cherry hopes that renewed attention to Augustine’s emphasis could nourish constructive theological understanding of what it is to be Christlike in daily living.The book is not specifically about Wesley or Methodist studies, but it does mention Methodism in a way that should be noted. Because of the fading influence of Augustine’s formula, Cherry laments that vital movements such as Methodism did not have available to them the understanding of ‘believing-into’ that Augustine preached. She does note that a Methodist of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Edward H. Sugden, understood from biblical Greek the point about believing into Christ. In a footnote to John Wesley’s sermon ‘The First Fruits of the Spirit’, Sugden referred to the Greek pisteuein eis from the Gospel of John as ‘believing into’ in order to illumine what Wesley missed about Paul’s phrase ‘in Christ’ in the text for this sermon (Romans 8:1). Cherry interprets Sugden’s comment to mean ‘that Wesley’s early theology had yet to consider faith in relational, rather than merely transactional, terms’. It should be acknowledged, though, that as early as 1738 (in ‘Salvation by Faith’) Wesley distinguished right, living faith from the faith of the devils and talked about it in terms of trust and confidence.It is not clear to me that Sugden’s footnote intended to comment that Wesley’s early theology of faith was not relational but rather to make a point about the distinction between justification and sanctification. Sanctification is more clearly how we grow into Christ—what Sugden thinks Paul means by ‘in Christ’. Sugden points out that Paul uses believe upon (epi) for justification and believe into (eis) for sanctification.My own sense as I read Cherry’s book was how much Wesley and Augustine had in common in the way they called people to Christlikeness. They may well have come to their understandings differently—and perhaps used different images—but they offered a similar vision for Christian living. I hope Wesleyan Methodist readers will make use of this book to highlight the wisdom that is in this tradition and recover it.

All Things Both Temporal and Spiritual

All Things Both Temporal and Spiritual

‘Wait! Don’t touch me!’: Police uniforms, family anxiety, and rituals of purification in the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT Emblematic power is entrenched in the uniform and bodily image of the police. The COVID-19 pandemic has afforded a new layer of understandings of ‘dirty work’ with police officers, and has shown how the police uniform is perceived to be an involuntary vehicle for physical contamination and symbolic taint. This article is based on interviews with 18 police officers from 11 UK police forces over the summer of 2020 and explores how the COVID-19 pandemic caused increased fear and anxiety about virus contraction, particularly when officers were not prioritised for testing and vaccinations at the time. The possibility of transmitting COVID-19 to family members motivated officers to treat their uniforms differently, and they undertook purification rituals to mitigate violations of the physical and symbolic space around the body. Fear and anxiety of ‘the unknown’ is a motivator for discussions about long-term effects of officer well-being, and the significance of learning to prepare for future pandemics.

Experiences and Perceptions in Dyads about Ostomy Care. Meta-synthesis of Qualitative Studies.

To understand the experiences and perceptions of care dyads (person and caregiver) when having a permanent discharge ostomy. Meta-synthesis that followed the ENTREQ standards and was registered in PROSPERO CRD42020221755; It was developed in three phases: (i). Search for studies in academic search engines, with MeSH terms: [(Patients) AND (Ostomy)) AND (Caregivers)], including qualitative primary studies published between 2000 and 2020; (ii). Assessment of the methodological quality with the CORE-Q instrument and the credibility of qualitative findings under the guidelines of the Johanna Briggs Institute; and (iii). Comparative analysis according to the guidelines by Sandelowski and Barroso. The work identified 664 studies; in screening, 35 passed to full-text analysis; 22 to methodological quality evaluation; and 10 to meta-synthesis. The study found 43 qualitative findings that constituted four categories: dyads perform instrumental and emotional care; ambivalent family caregiving feelings and actions; assertive and effective family care; and rejection of bodily changes and sexual dysfunction. These categories constitute the central meta-theme: "The dyads experience a life rupture, which is restored in a sea of ambivalent emotions and learning; at the same time, affective, instrumental and assertive care is constructed". People who experience having a permanent discharge ostomy express their rejection to the change in bodily image, alterations in sexual life and as a couple. Caregivers and families are the main source of support by being facilitators in self-care, through relationships of mutuality and reciprocity.

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Psychical Health and Social Relationships Among University Students

Summary We have never faced such a global pandemic as COVID-19 in modern history. It´s important for us to find out how it can affect mental health and social relationships of students. This pandemic has brought us not only the risk of dying from a viral infection, but also brought the enormous psychological pressure on people. Purpose of this study was to determine the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and social relationships of university students. Methods: The research group consisted of 95 students of the Faculty of Sports of the University of Prešov in Prešov (men: n = 62, women: n = 33) with an average age of 22 +/- 6 years. As a method of data collection we used the standardized questionnaire of the World Health Organization - WHOQOL-BREF. Our modified WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire represents a selection of 9 items, six of them represent mental health: (1) Positive feeling (2) Self-esteem (3) Thinking, learning, memory and concentration (4) Bodily image and appearance, (5) Satisfy with you, (6) Negative feelings, and three represent social relationships (7) Personal relationships, (8) Sexual activity, (9) Social support. Due to the extraordinary pandemic situation an online survey was conducted to the students. Students had time to complete the questionnaire from 17.11.2021 to 19.11.2021. Results: Statistical significant difference between periods before and during COVID-19 pandemic was determined using the Wilcoxon paired t test. There were statistically significant differences in the psychological experience and social relationships of university students before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusion: We recommend monitoring the mental health of university students and raising awareness of various media platforms about psychological problems during a pandemic.

I-functions of external and internal differentiation of the girls with tattoos with different body image

The subject of the study is the I-functions of external and internal differentiation of tattooed girls with different body image. In the available literature, the consideration of the meanings of tattoos occurs in connection with self-harm, the application of jewelry or the elimination of bodily defects. The connection of tattoos with the existing bodily image and central I-functions needs are studied in the article. Objective: to study the I-functions of external and internal differentiation of the girls with tattoos with different body image. Methods: G. Ammon's Structural Test (ISTA) and O. A. Skugarevsky and S. V. Sivukh's Own Body Image Questionnaire. Study sample: 62 girls with tattoos aged 22.48 ± 2.16 (Mo=21, Me=22) with higher and receiving higher education. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that there are no works on the connection of tattoos with central I-functions in the Russian literature. The connection of body tattooing with Self-functions and body image is a new direction in psychological research. Results: girls with tattoos and a positive body image experience fewer difficulties in integrating life experience, build relationships with other people more successfully, show more interest in life, respect their own and others' personal boundaries more than respondents with a negative body image. It is established that the more negative the body image is, the less the constructive component is manifested in the external I-differentiation and the personal boundaries are less realized. As a result of the study author suggest the psychocorrective work for girls with deformed I-functions and negative bodily image. The conclusions made can become the basis of psychological work to reduce the risk of adaptation disorders.

Нервная анорексия у молодой пациентки с летальным исходом. Клинический случай

Anorexia nervosa (NA) is a mental disorder belonging to a group of eating disorders characterized by the patient's rejection of his bodily image and manifested by deliberate weight loss caused and/or maintained by the patient himself with the help of restrictions in eating, creating obstacles to its assimilation or stimulating metabolism. About a third of patients do not respond to treatment, including inpatient. Mortality in NA reaches 20%. The total mortality (for any reason) of patients is 5.2 times higher than the same indicator among women aged 15–34 years in the general population. The most common causes of death are infections, pulmonary edema, electrolyte imbalance, cardiac and respiratory failure, including with nutrition restoration syndrome, aspiration of food masses when feeding through a probe, liver failure. The presented clinical case demonstrates the outcome of the disease of a young patient with multiple organ failure, recurrent bleeding from acute stomach ulcers

The bodily image of the bride and its symbolism in the Russian ethnic tradition

The bodily image of the bride and its symbolism in the Russian ethnic tradition

Women`s body image satisfaction: connection with age and self-esteem

The article examines the results of a study of the influence of age and self-esteem on satisfaction with the image of their own body in women based on the material of the Kazakhstani sample. A feature of the present time is the importance of the visual factor in assessing a person, this is especially true for women. The standards of appearance, put forward and promoted by various communication channels, are becoming more and more stringent from year to year. The number of women who are susceptible to their influence is growing in parallel with all these changes. To work with women who are dissatisfied with their body image, it is necessary to understand what determines such behavior. A part of the results of a survey of women on the topic of satisfaction with their bodies is presented, the determinants of age and self-esteem are analyzed. A battery of techniques by T. Cash (MBSRQ, BISS, SIBID), OOST O.A. Skugarevsky – S.V. Sivukha, MDS T.V. Dembo – S.Y. Rubinstein. 82 women aged 16-62 took part in the survey. There was a statistically significant correlation between body image satisfaction and self-esteem. Body image satisfaction is not affected by a woman’s age, marital status, or the presence or absence of children. The conducted research allows us to draw a general conclusion about the high importance of appearance in the life of a woman of any age. Within the framework of psychological assistance to women with a problematic attitude towards themselves and their appearance, one of the possible areas of work is the creation of a positive bodily image. Key words: body image, satisfaction, self-esteem, appearance, age, women.

‘Libidinal Nationalism’: The Political Economy of Gender Transgression in India

This essay is a speculative analysis on corporeality and embodiment that is envisaged in the light of bodily representation and image of gender liminal bodies in the non-West –further focusing on the complex dynamics of re-imagining beauty and aesthetics of the contemporary hijra identities in India. Taking this standpoint forward I attempt to highlight newer discourses of embodiment and enactment as installing a gendered essence to (re)frame the possibilities and negotiation of the body and sexuality in the non-West. With special emphasis to body studies, the essay strongly carves the materiality and bodily aesthetics that further conjure to rearticulate body with nationalistic sentiments as espoused to refer to the rhetoric of the libidinal and erotic enterprise of the hijra body. This allows to advocate the perspective of the body and the sexual economy wherein breasts (hijras in Bombay) and bunda (buttocks: of the travesty in Brazil) conveys a powerful key symbol echoing the corporeal ideal as indicators to the ‘national preference’ of the region. The popularity of breasts and bunda thus idealized as feminine corporeal aesthetics that the hijras and travesties contours their body through silicone implant surgery, injectable silicone. The cosmetic practices thus site the implication to view the massive unveiling of desire and desirability within the growing gender liminal culture in the developing societies as to relate to the national ideologies of beauty and eroticism.

No harm, no foul? Body integrity identity disorder and the metaphysics of grievous bodily harm

Sufferers of body integrity identity disorder (BIID) experience a severe, non-delusional mismatch between their physical body and their internalised bodily image. For some, healthy limb amputation is the only alleviation for their significant suffering. Those who achieved an amputation, either self-inflicted or via surgery, often describe the procedure as resulting in relief. However, in England, surgeons who provide ‘elective amputations’ could face prosecution for causing grievous bodily harm (GBH) under section 18 of the Offences Against the Persons Act 1861. Whether such a therapeutic intervention should be classified as GBH depends on the presence of harm, as, without harm, it is hard to argue that GBH has occurred. However, there is no agreed-upon definition of what constitutes harm. Such a definitional absence then begs the question, what is harm? It is this question which this article addresses, using the provision of healthy limb amputation in cases of BIID as an example. Drawing on metaphysics, this article will seek to clarify three separate contemporary models of harm: the counter-temporal, the counterfactual, and the non-comparative. Each model will be applied to the scenario of a surgeon carrying out a BIID-induced, therapeutic, healthy limb amputation, and in each, how harm may, or may not, be understood to have been caused will be explored. It concludes that an unexamined conception of harm is ill-equipped for employment in suspected cases of GBH when it is unclear whether harm has been caused and that a better-informed understanding of harm is required in cases where there is potential disagreement, be that in instances of BIID or a myriad of other borderline scenarios.

Change within the change: pregnancy, liminality and adventure tourism in Mexico

Despite the growing number of pregnant women engaging in outdoor adventure activities, very few studies have explored pregnancy or the specific needs and challenges of pregnant women in tourism research. To fill this gap in the literature, we examine the participation of pregnant women in adventure tourism through the theoretical lens of liminality. Conceptualising pregnancy as a liminal stage in which women are ‘suspended’ between two statuses, opens diverse possibilities to delve into women’s experiences of embodiment, bodily image and control. In this sense, pregnancy is understood as an ‘internal change’, which adds specific challenges to women’s practice of adventure tourism, including bodily changes and different perceptions of risk-taking. Similarly, the context of adventure tourism provides an ideal space to reflect on liminal transitions and the ‘outside changes’ that pregnant women go through in the predominantly masculinised spaces that characterise this tourism segment. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 35 Mexican women who actively pursue adventure tourism and who had engaged in these activities during at least one pregnancy. The analysis indicates the importance of norms and social expectations experienced by pregnant women when doing adventure tourism. The concept of the ‘rhizomatic body’ proved to be a valuable tool when looking at the social taboos, prohibitions and rules that apply to pregnant women in specific sociocultural contexts (in this case, Mexico). By reframing and reconceptualising pregnant women and their practice of adventure activities, the social construction of pregnancy is elucidated. Finally, the study contributes to the understanding of alternative models and experiences of being a woman in gendered spaces, while shedding light on relevant behavioural patterns among pregnant tourists and the sociocultural impacts of these patterns.

Fake Meets Soul: Division Among Hawai‘i’s Japanese Surfers

This article examines the Japanese surf community in and around Honolulu, Hawai‘i. I argue that a variety of factors, notably socioeconomic status and access to wealth, interpretation of popular media depictions that surround surfing, and a desire to project a “cool” bodily image, result in division within this community between those labeled as either “fake” or “soul” surfers. A division exacerbated by anger and frustration among Japanese soul surfers in Hawai‘i at the more pervasive presence of fake surfers. This division creates wider complications with the sociopolitical complexities governing the larger surfing community’s organization. The result is a contentious and sometimes confrontational mix delineated along lines of personal wealth, commitment to surfing, and adaptation to life in Hawai‘i that reveals culturally influenced understandings of how self-image and sporting commitment are cultivated and maintained. Further complicating the picture is the cultural significance given surfing in Hawai‘i as an influential component of native Hawaiian identity and means to resisting colonial incursion. By articulating these divisions of community around surfing as a nuanced and culturally weighty pursuit, I show the often hidden complexity governing the sport and its associated communities across Hawai‘i’s hallowed surf breaks and beaches.

A clinical trial of group-based body psychotherapy to improve bodily disturbances in post-treatment cancer patients in combination with randomized controlled smartphone-triggered bodily interventions (KPTK): study protocol

BackgroundDisturbances in bodily well-being represent one key source of suffering and impairment related to cancer. There is growing evidence that body psychotherapy (BPT) is efficacious for the treatment of various mental disorders. However, with regard to cancer patients, evidence is scarce. The aims of this project are to evaluate whether bodily disturbances in post-treatment cancer patients can be improved by group BPT, and to estimate the efficacy of intermittent smartphone-triggered bodily interventions.MethodsThe project is a bi-center study with two participating centers in Switzerland, applying a pre-post convergent parallel design of a weekly group BPT using a waiting-period comparator, including a nested RCT during the group BPT phase. During the BPT phase, either a smartphone-triggered bodily intervention or a smartphone-triggered control intervention is provided at random over 5 consecutive weeks, on 6 days weekly. Patients who had received curatively intended treatment for any malignant neoplasm (treatment being completed ≥3 months) and are suffering from bodily disturbances are screened to assess eligibility. Sample size estimation is based on an a priori power analysis. We plan to include a total of N = 88 subjects, aiming at at least 52 completers.Patients are surveyed three times (baseline assessment (T0), pre- (T1) and post-intervention assessment (T2)), and on a daily basis along BPT during five consecutive weeks. The primary outcome, bodily disturbances, is assessed using the ‘Body Image Scale‘(BIS). For the secondary outcomes standardized questionnaires are used to assess changes in experience of presence and vitality, mood, body mindfulness, somatic symptoms and somatic symptom disorder, quality of life, anxiety, and depression including suicidal tendency, vitality and mental health, as well as group cohesion. Using semi standardized interviews (at T0 and T2), we aim to explore the relation of BPT with bodily disturbances and body image in post-treatment cancer patients, as well as the acceptance and burden of the intervention.DiscussionThe proposed study has strong potential benefits for cancer patients, as it may pave the way for new therapeutic approaches to treat bodily disturbances, which persist despite curative tumor therapy. These may considerably improve patients’ biopsychosocial well-being and quality of life.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.govNCT03707548 (registered 9 October 2018; retrospectively registered).

In flesh and bone: bodily image and educational patterns in early Reformation theatre

From its very beginning, the Protestant Reformation adopted the theatre as one of its educational tools. Together with choral music, visual arts, and preaching, Luther, Melanchthon, Oekolampad, and other Reformers promoted both the cultivated school theatre and the popular street theatre in order to spread the new faith, create a community ethos, enhance knowledge of the Bible, and raise contempt towards the common enemy, the Roman clergy. The body was, like in all performances, a cornerstone of its educational action. Drawing on both traditions, the classical and the popular one, the Reformers were able to build a “site-specific” theatrical pedagogy of the body in which the individual body of the hero and the collective body of the community acted in different roles, and in which the city, with its political and religious identity, was rethought as the place where the Volksgeist came to life and the glorious histories of the Bible were revived by and for the “chosen ones”. Focusing on early Swiss playwrights and a fugitive Italian writer, the analysis will trace the features of a stage repertory often neglected by history of education, and pinpoint some still open questions.

The concept of a model of plastic bodily image in architecture

One of the key problems of architectural mastery is lack of acute feeling of the plastic image and bodily self-determination of an architectural object at the initial (and the subsequent) stage when the design model author is trying to see and understand the context where the future object should appear, literally be born out of thin air. This sensuous amnesia is caused, among other reasons, by the lack of experience in “sculptural modeling”, “hand molding” and today’s common practice of facilitated transfer to analytical computer design. The loss of intense bodily experience, mental connection of one’s own body with an imaginary object, has an effect as well. In its turn, it deprives the object of sensuous corporeal nature, transforms it into a mechanistic conglomerate. The article deals with the body concept, bodily and plastic categories in relation to the architectural shaping and suggests the concept of mediator models linking reality and the designer’s imagination integrated into a new typology of “models of plastic bodily images” (MPBI). The principal medium of these models and the procedures for their creation are based on synthesis of form, interpretation of the “bodily experience”, tactile contact with model material, sculptural forming techniques and sensory evaluations of subject-environment interaction. The proposed typology of models has been piloted by the author in numerous educational and conceptual projects. The results of experiments and developed theoretical principles related to models of plastic bodily images will help achieve better results in the course of basic design and special composition training of architects.

Spiritual Intelligence, Gender and Educational Background as Related to the Quality of Life of College Students

Spiritual Intelligence (SQ )In prior researches and studies the both terms spirituality and religiosity are taken as same concept. The use of the term spirituality has changed time to time. The similarity between the term spirituality and religiosity is that both relate to a search for an absolute or higher consciousness, but there we find differences in their uses also. Religiosity implies a particular faith tradition that includes acceptance of a metaphysical or supernatural reality (Lama, 1999); whereas spirituality is not necessarily bound to any particular religious tradition. Religiosity is associated with formal organization whereas spirituality does not depend on institutional affiliation. Religiosity indicates an organized way to relate to the divine, situations, events and people. Spirituality operates in personal way. It is intrinsic and chosen by an individual while religiosity may sometimes act as a driving force. Religiosity is may be related to Christianity, Islamism, Hinduism, Buddhism etc. Spirituality is a personal way of relating to the Divine, self, people and the world. Today in Psychology the concept of spirituality is studying as a form of intelligence, the intelligence (S.Q.). According to Danah Zohar and Ian Marshall (2000), who developed the concept of intelligence (S.Q.), conventional religion is an externally imposed set of beliefs. It is top- down, inherited from priests and prophets and holy books, or absorbed through the family and tradition. SQ (spiritual intelligence) is an innate ability of the human brain and psyche, drawing its deepest resources from the heart of the universe itself. It is a facility developed over millions of years that allows the brain to find and use meaning in solution of problems.Operational definition of Spiritual Intelligence: In our study we have taken intelligence as a construct, developed by Yosi Amram and D. Christopher Dryer (2008). So according to them spiritual intelligence is the ability to apply, manifest, and embody resources, values, and qualities to enhance daily functioning and wellbeing.Quality of lifeQuality of life (QoL) is a broad multidimensional concept that usually includes subjective evaluations of both positive and negative aspects of life (WHOQOL, 1998). The WHO in his WHOQOL-BREF suggested 4 domains of QoL: 1. Physical health includes Activities of daily living, Dependence on medicinal substances and medical aids, Energy and fatigue, Mobility, Pain and discomfort, Sleep and rest, and Work Capacity. 2. Psychological health includes Bodily image and appearance, Negative feelings, Positive feelings, Self-esteem, Spirituality / Religion / Personal beliefs, and Thinking, learning, memory and concentration. 3. Social relationships include Personal relationships, Social support and Sexual activity. 4. Environment includes financial resources, Freedom, physical safety and security, Health and social care: accessibility and quality, Home environment, Opportunities for acquiring new information and skills, Participation in and opportunities for recreation/leisure activities, Physical environment (pollution/noise/traffic/climate) and Transport.Operational definition of of Life: According to the WHOQOL Group (1994a, 1994b) Quality of life is defined as individuals' perceptions of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards and concerns.Review of literatureSpiritual Intelligence and QoL: Fehring et al. (1987) studied psychological and well-being in college students. Two separate correlational studies were conducted to investigate the relationship between spirituality and psychological mood states in response to life change. The results demonstrated a weak positive relationship between life change and depression. Unlike a previous study, well-being, existential well-being, and outlook showed strong inverse relationships with negative moods suggesting that variables may influence psychological well-being. …