Personal Spiritual Beliefs Research Articles

Transforming Hearts, Restoring our Land Spiritual Perspective on Ecological Regeneration

An urgent solution is required to the pressing issue of the escalating environmental crises and the widening gap between humanity and the natural world. Climate change, deforestation, and rapid urbanization highlight the urgent need for all-encompassing policies that not only address ecological degradation but also promote a strong bond between people and the natural world. The study sought to understand how individuals' personal spiritual beliefs influenced their understanding of and commitment to ecological regeneration and rewilding. This was done in order to better understand the complex relationship that exists between spirituality and ecological regeneration, as expressed in the research title, "Rewilding our Hearts, Restoring our Land: Spiritual Perspectives on Ecological Regeneration." Deep Ecology provides a theoretical framework for examining the spiritual aspects of ecological regeneration. It permits an in-depth investigation of the ways in which people, guided by their spiritual convictions, can embrace ecocentric principles and support rewilding initiatives. This study conducted a thorough investigation of the complex relationship between spirituality and ecological regeneration using a qualitative research methodology. As part of the research methodology, participant observations with members of various spiritual communities were used to collect qualitative data. As a result, study has revealed the subtle facets of participants' lived experiences, beliefs, and practices that influence their relationships to the environment through in-depth interviews and participant observations within various spiritual communities. The participants demonstrated a commitment to responsible environmental stewardship and a heightened awareness of ecological interconnectedness, driven by their spiritual perspectives.

Spirituality In Leadership – A Psychological Approach

The concept of spirituality and leadership is widened in this research to include strategic leadership as well as traditional spirituality. It will be necessary for future advancement in the subject of spirituality and leadership to have greater clarity on the degree of research being conducted, as well as the distinction between individual and societal spirituality. A framework is presented to accomplish this goal, and it illustrates how a top-level leader's personal spiritual beliefs may be utilized as a schema to filter and organize data during strategic decision-making. This functioning is moderated by the leader's progressive growth and meta-belief, which are impacted by the organization's setting and leadership method, among other variables. A complex understanding of spirituality and leadership may be gained via the use of this framework. It also provides as a starting point for examining many different types of spirituality that can be found in organizations.

Management challenges faced by administrators at dementia care nursing homes in China

Currently, more than 10 million Chinese older adults have been diagnosed with dementia, a number that is expected to increase as the population in China rapidly ages. Yet, little research exists on dementia care in Chinese long-term care facilities. Our research addresses this gap in the knowledge-base by examining the challenges nursing home directors encounter as well as the coping strategies they employ to deal with these challenges. Twenty-one facility directors employed by faith-based nursing homes across 14 provinces in China participated in this study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in respondents’ native language via phone or in person. Most respondents reported a religious affiliation, and about half were female and had been facility directors for more than four years. Two researchers fluent in Mandarin and English coded interview transcripts; thematic analysis was conducted to identify patterns in the data. The results indicated four primary challenges, which pertained to recruiting and retaining nursing staff, funding, lacking support from the government, and conflicts with family members. The coping strategies included obtaining and using external resources such as volunteer visitors, operationalizing personal spiritual beliefs, and providing training to improve skills and empathy among employees. This study contributes to nursing home practice by expanding our knowledge of culturally relevant dementia management strategies in China. Suggestions to address management challenges from a policy and practical perspective include clear and sustainable financial support from the government, staff training, and staff-resident ratio regulations, seeking external resources, and integrating spiritual strategies into problem management and service quality improvement.

Spirituality and Wellness in Plastic Surgery: A Survey of ASPS Members.

Background:Spirituality is an important, yet often overlooked, component of personal well-being. The purpose of this study was to assess whether spirituality plays an important role in the well-being of US plastic surgeons and residents, and whether spirituality is viewed as an important component of patient care.Methods:An anonymous and voluntary email survey was distributed to 3375 members of ASPS during the months of April through June of 2020. The survey distribution included 2230 active members of ASPS and 1149 resident members, all who practice or train within the United States. The survey consisted of 18 multiple-choice questions with answer choices based on a descriptive five-point Likert scale and ranking by priority. Statistical analysis of the results was performed using StataCorp 2019 software.Results:A total of 431 completed surveys were received for a response rate of 12.7%. The majority of participants (70%) reported that personal spiritual beliefs and faith contribute positively to emotional well-being. In total, 65% agreed or strongly agreed that their spiritual beliefs provide a healthy framework for handling conflict, suffering, and loss. More than half (51%) reported that as a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic, their spiritual beliefs and practices have provided increased support and guidance.Conclusions:Spirituality is an important component of maintaining wellness for plastic surgeons, and spirituality is recognized by plastic surgeons as an important aspect of the healing process for patients. Efforts should be made to promote spiritual health among the surgical community both during training and in practice.

Spirituality in Primary Palliative Care and Beyond: A 20-Year Longitudinal Qualitative Study of Interacting Factors Impacting Physicians’ Spiritual Care Provision Over Time

ContextSpiritual care (SC) is central to palliative care. However, a mismatch between patients’ desire for SC and physicians’ SC provision remains. The shortage of specialty-trained palliative physicians, necessitates that all physicians provide primary palliative care, including SC. Although several quantitative studies explore physicians’ barriers to SC, few qualitative studies and no longitudinal studies exist. ObjectiveTo gain in-depth understanding of factors influencing physicians’ ability to provide SC over time. MethodsA 20-year longitudinal, individual interview study. In study year-1, we interviewed all residents in a USA primary care residency (full study-group) regarding SC beliefs, experiences and skills. The longitudinal study-group (PGY1 subgroup) was interviewed again in study-years 3, 11, and 20. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. Four researchers analyzed transcripts using a grounded theory approach. IRB approval was obtained. ResultsWe analyzed 66 interviews from 34 physicians. Physicians had diverse personal spiritual beliefs. Seven themes emerged from both groups (response rate 89%): patients’ needs; practice setting; beliefs regarding physician's role; personal spiritual beliefs; SC training; life experiences (professional, personal); self-care and reflection. Longitudinal interviews revealed thematic evolution and interactions over 20-years: patients’ needs and physicians’ belief in whole-person care remained primary motivators; cross-cultural SC communication training diminished impact of personal spiritual beliefs and worries; life experiences enhanced SC skills; work environment helped or hindered SC provision; and spiritual self-care/reflection fostered patient-centered, compassionate SC. ConclusionFacilitating SC provision by nonpalliative care specialists is complex and may require both individual and systems level interventions fostering motivation, SC skill development, and supportive work environments.

Faith It till You Make It: A CYC Course-Based Qualitative Inquiry

Faith It till You Make It: A CYC Course-Based Qualitative Inquiry Jessica, Buss, BCYC, Moriah, Erbacker, BCYC, Brittany Kryzanowski, BCYC, Heidi, Pisca, BCYC, Gerard Bellefeuille Abstract The purpose of this course-based research study was to explore the perceptions of faith-based child and youth care (CYC) students in completing a third-year expressive arts-based CYC practice self-image assignment that invited them to incorporate their personal spiritual beliefs as a component of their CYC identity. The course-base study also sought to examine the potential of arts-based assignment in creating a safe medium to express one’s faith in CYC education. The focus group method was the primary data collection strategy. Thematic analysis resulted in the identification of three themes: a) relational safety within one’s environment, b) fear of judgement from classmates and coworkers, and c) desire for authenticity within one’s CYC identity. The results of this course-based study indicate that for many CYC students, the arts-based CYC practice self-portrait assignment was a safe place to express their faith and spiritual beliefs. Full Text: PDF DOI: 10.15640/jehd.v9n1a3

Finding God in the intuitive: Reclaiming the therapist’s spirituality

This article presents a selection of case studies exploring the theme of music and spirituality and offers a theoretical frame for clinical practice. I intend to draw a direct link between my own spirituality (Christian) and the role of the intuitive in the therapeutic process, inviting the reader to re-frame the article within their own world view. Recent research has highlighted the relative sparsity of published material related to the role of a therapist’s spirituality in the therapeutic relationship. This may be due to a number of factors, not least that most therapists are operating within secular contexts and theoretical frameworks, and are likely to experience resistance or even dismissal if their personal spiritual beliefs are explicitly expressed within their practice. Similarly, a definition of intuition within a robust theoretical framework has proven to be evasive. The very nature of intuition (and indeed spirituality) creates a bias away from the evidence-based practice that is held in such high esteem through most therapeutic disciplines. In this article, I propose a framework for therapeutic practice that gives permission for the therapist to embrace their spiritual belief system as an essential core of their clinical work. I build my discussion on a definition of spirituality that implies an external divine being (God) who can be in relationship with the therapist and client. From this basis I suggest that moments of intuition need not be seen as mysterious and inexplicable, but rather as the influence of the divine.

Invisible agents: spirits in a Central African history

Invisible Agents shows how personal and deeply felt spiritual beliefs can inspire social movements and influence historical change. Conventional historiography concentrates on the secular, materialist, or moral sources of political agency. Instead, David M. Gordon argues, when people perceive spirits as exerting power in the visible world, these beliefs form the basis for individual and collective actions. Focusing on the history of the south-central African country of Zambia during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, his analysis invites reflection on political and religious realms of action in other parts of the world, and complicates the post-Enlightenment divide of sacred and profane. The book combines theoretical insights with attention to local detail and remarkable historical sweep, from oral narratives communicated across slave-trading routes during the nineteenth century, through the violent conflicts inspired by Christian and nationalist prophets during colonial times, and ending with the spirits of Pentecostal rebirth during the neoliberal order of the late twentieth century. To gain access to the details of historical change and personal spiritual beliefs across this long historical period, Gordon employs all the tools of the African historian. His own interviews and extensive fieldwork experience in Zambia provide texture and understanding to the narrative. He also critically interprets a diverse range of other sources, including oral traditions, fieldnotes of anthropologists, missionary writings and correspondence, unpublished state records, vernacular publications, and Zambian newspapers. Invisible Agents will challenge scholars and students alike to think in new ways about the political imagination and the invisible sources of human action and historical change.

Religious Thought as Manifested in the Musical Content of George Harrison’s Brainwashed

Abstract: In an article published in this journal in 2004, Michael Gilmour studied George Harrison’s Brainwashed but left the album’s music unexplored. This article builds on Gilmour’s work by focusing on three of the album’s tracks and analyzing their harmonic and melodic structures. This examination reveals musical parallels to the religious themes of the album, strengthening Gilmour’s conclusion that Harrison was inspired by the Bhagavad Gita. In addition, the analysis illuminates aspects of Harrison’s personal spiritual beliefs. Throughout, the article advocates an interdisciplinary approach is necessary for understanding the entirety of the album’s musical and religious content.

Canadian Values and Military Operations in the Twenty-First Century

Whereas traditionally religion has played a central role in shaping the shared values in a society, secularization, privatization of religion, and pluralism are changing the values that personnel bring to the Canadian Forces. This late modern reality means that many people who have rejected traditional forms of religion in order to interpret their personal spiritual beliefs for themselves are uncertain about their core values. Differences in values among military personnel are further complicated by the realities of modern military engagements that require a greater need for ethical thinking and moral decision making. This article examines the nature of religion and values in late modern Canadian society and identifies religious leadership as a source of moral and ethical direction as well as consolation in the face of moral anomie. Finally, it highlights the need for greater education about the role of religion and values for military personnel.

Spirituality and Strategic Leadership: The Influence of Spiritual Beliefs on Strategic Decision Making

This work extends the consideration of spirituality and leadership to the field of strategic leadership. Future development in the field of spirituality and leadership will depend on greater clarity concerning the level of analysis, and will require a distinction between personal and collective spirituality. Toward that end, a framework is proposed that describes how the personal spiritual beliefs of a top level leader operate in strategic decision making like a schema to filter and frame information. This function is mediated by the leader’s constructive development and meta-belief and moderated by the organizational context and leadership style. This framework provides a starting point for considering the many expressions of spirituality in organizations and serves as a foundation for a multi-level theory of spirituality and leadership.

How Spiritual Are Social Workers? An Exploration of Social Work Practitioners' Personal Spiritual Beliefs, Attitudes, and Practices

Utilizing a national random sample of 225 members of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), this study examined practitioners' personal spiritual beliefs, their attitudes regarding the role of religion and spirituality in social work, and factors that might predict practitioners' use of religious and spiritual interventions. Findings suggest religion and spirituality plays an important role in respondents' personal and professional lives. A multiple regression analysis indicates that older respondents, with a stronger positive attitude regarding the role of religion and spirituality in social work practice were more likely to utilize spiritual practices or interventions.

The effects of parental marital discord and divorce on the religious and spiritual lives of young adults

A growing literature reveals that parental divorce and marital discord can have undesirable effects on the mental health and social well-being of children, some of which extend well into adulthood. Our study augments this body of work by focusing on the interplay of divorce and discord in shaping the religious and spiritual lives of young adults. Several discrete subgroups of young adults are identified in terms of parental marital status and degree of parents’ marital conflict, and multiple religious and spiritual outcomes are considered. Data are taken from the National Survey on the Moral and Spiritual Lives of Young Adults from Divorced and Intact Families, a nationwide US telephone survey of approximately 1500 young adults ages 18–35 conducted in 2001. Findings confirm that persons raised by parents in intact, happy, low-conflict marriages tend to score higher on most religious and spiritual outcomes. However, offspring from divorced families and those from intact high-conflict families differ on some outcomes, but not others. Indicators of traditional institutional religious practices and beliefs appear more vulnerable to the effects of parental divorce and discord than personal spiritual beliefs and practices. Overall, findings reveal a rich but complex set of relationships between family background and religious and spiritual lives among young adults.

P03-139 Spiritual beliefs and therapeuticall adhesion

Introduction:Personal and familiar spiritual and religious beliefs are important factors to be considered when prescribing an antipsychotic drug to a schizophrenic patient.Description:A case report of a 29 years old male patient with a schizoaffective disorder is presented. in this case the border between what was delusion and what was the result of the patient personal and familiar spiritual beliefs was impossible to made. Only after the medication precribed has produced its effect this distinction has become clearer.Method:A literature revision about this issue was made.Discussion/conclusion:Spiritual beliefs are important factors that influence therapeuticall adhesion. A clear distinction between them and delusion symptomatology is very difficult to made, mainly in an acute psychotic state. after medication, the delusion symptomatology disappears and personal spiritual beliefs persist.

A phenomenological exploration of the nature of spirituality and spiritual care

A diagnosis of advanced cancer may provoke a crisis of meaning and belief systems and self-confidence may be shaken; some authors define this as a spiritual crisis. Generally there is a dearth of published studies in the UK relating to the meaning of spirituality and the provision of spiritual care. Several factors may influence the spiritual care practices of nurses such as the lack of an agreed definition of spirituality and the nurses' own spiritual and cultural beliefs. Using a phenomenological heuristic approach, semi-structured interviews offering nurses the opportunity to tell their stories and to share their experiences of their own personal spiritual beliefs, and of providing spiritual care for patients with advanced cancer, were used with a convenience sample of 15 hospice nurses. My use of their stories not only legitimizes their experiences but also places the complex understanding of spirituality and spiritual care centre stage. The study revealed that the spiritual dimension of care infiltrates all aspects of nursing care. The nurses I interviewed had integrated their spirituality within their nursing role and were working in a spiritual context. The nurses used a holistic approach to care in which the spiritual dimension permeated all the other dimensions of care (physical, social, religious and psychological). To achieve holistic care the nurses sought the assistance of other professionals, who included religious ministers, social workers and counsellors.

A phenomenological exploration of the nature of spirituality and spiritual care

A diagnosis of advanced cancer may provoke a crisis of meaning and belief systems and self-confidence may be shaken; some authors define this as a spiritual crisis. Generally there is a dearth of published studies in the UK relating to the meaning of spirituality and the provision of spiritual care. Several factors may influence the spiritual care practices of nurses such as the lack of an agreed definition of spirituality and the nurses' own spiritual and cultural beliefs. Using a phenomenological heuristic approach, semi-structured interviews offering nurses the opportunity to tell their stories and to share their experiences of their own personal spiritual beliefs, and of providing spiritual care for patients with advanced cancer, were used with a convenience sample of 15 hospice nurses. My use of their stories not only legitimizes their experiences but also places the complex understanding of spirituality and spiritual care centre stage. The study revealed that the spiritual dimension of care infiltrates all aspects of nursing care. The nurses I interviewed had integrated their spirituality within their nursing role and were working in a spiritual context. The nurses used a holistic approach to care in which the spiritual dimension permeated all the other dimensions of care (physical, social, religious and psychological). To achieve holistic care the nurses sought the assistance of other professionals, who included religious ministers, social workers and counsellors.