Search Results (10)

Religion and spirituality (R/S) provide possibilities for healing, resilience, meaning making, and posttraumatic growth (PTG) in the aftermath of trauma. Still, R/S may also be the precursors and/or sources of harm, resulting in experiences of spiritual distress (SD). While extensive research has examined the positive mental health impacts of R/S, its potential harms are under-investigated. Addressing this gap, this article draws on findings from an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) study with four women of evangelical Christian (EC) backgrounds who have experienced SD. The women’s stories revealed SD as an isolating and profoundly tension-filled experience characterized by painful relational loss, fraught belonging, existential uncertainty, and acute spiritual pain. Several women used the term “trauma” to describe their experiences. This study evidences the tender and isolating complexity of SD. For the women, spirituality served as both a cause and a perpetuator of trauma, and as a vehicle for transcendent meaning making in response to wounding. Ultimately, spirituality is tangled in the women’s distress while also playing a role in their posttraumatic growth. Implications include a call for increased awareness and advocacy regarding SD, as well as a trauma-informed, spiritually sensitive, curious posture from practitioners supporting clients with SD to foster posttraumatic growth. Full article

Promoting sustainable urban development is crucial in light of upcoming environmental change and population expansion. Urban forests play a key role in transporting ecosystem services to urban areas. They not only offer a crucial biological setting for preserving urban biodiversity, but they also give recreation dwellers access to a variety of urban opportunities and ensure their spiritual and cultural needs are met. Maintaining urban biodiversity and offering recreation services have trade-offs and synergies, and both were highly connected with the size of an urban forest patch. Six districts in Beijing’s central urban area were chosen for this study to serve as the research objective. First, the MSPA model was employed to conduct a thorough scientific analysis of the pattern and distribution characteristics of urban forests in Beijing’s central urban area. Second, the recreation services were quantified by merging many sources of big data, the urban forest biodiversity preservation services were assessed using the InVEST model, and the spatial heterogeneity of the two services was examined. In conclusion, the coupling coordination degree model was utilized to calculate the crucial threshold interval between urban biodiversity service and recreation service for urban forest patch area. The findings indicated that the ideal urban forest patch scale for achieving the synergy of the two types of services was an area between 0.5 and 1 hectare. The outcomes can serve as a scientific foundation for urban forest planning and management in the future, assist in realizing the synergistic growth of the two services, as well as support the improvement of ecosystem services and the ecological welfare of people. Full article

Gardening has the potential to improve health by providing access to nature, vegetables, and physical activity. However, scarce research exists on the health impacts of gardening on racial and ethnic minority urban populations in the United States. This study used qualitative interviews to examine the perceived physical and mental health effects of gardening in a primarily African American sample of 28 gardeners. Prominent physical health impacts attributed to gardening included providing an enjoyable source of activity, management of chronic diseases, and improved physical functioning. Participants also reported that gardening improved their mood, relieved stress, was an important part of their spirituality, contributed to their personal growth, and provided an opportunity for helping others. These findings suggest that gardening may improve physical and mental health among diverse groups. Full article

The Daily Spiritual Experience Scale (DSES) is a 16-item self-report measure designed to assess a set of experiences that may occur in the context of daily life for many different kinds of people. These include awe, a merciful attitude, giving other-centered love, deep inner peace, finding strength, guidance, or consolation from a transcendent source, among others. The DSES includes theistic and non-theistic language and alternatives, and has proven useful for those from many religions and for the unaffiliated. Since its original publication, it has been translated into over 40 languages, used in hundreds of published studies, and adopted for use in many practical settings. Empirically, the DSES predicts greater resilience, stress buffering, post-traumatic growth, and a sense of meaning in the face of illness, trauma, and daily stressors, as well as less substance abuse and burnout. Intervention studies using the DSES show that a variety of interventions can increase the frequency of these experiences. In this article, we will provide a brief overview of the scale and review its use in the empirical literature with respect to resilience and related outcomes. Findings suggest that the experiences measured by the DSES may serve as a resource for those experiencing distress of various kinds. Full article

Faith-based organisations act as a powerful source of growth, empowerment and well-being for families in their milieu. This study used a qualitative research approach, specifically a case study design, to explore the role of the Sarva Dharma Ashram in contributing to the wellbeing of youth and their families in the Welbedacht community in South Africa. Three samples, which consisted of 24 participants, were purposively selected. These three samples were made up of the Board members of the Sarva Dharma Ashram, family members who are members of the Sarva Dharma Ashram and community members who live within the milieu of the Ashram. Semi-structured in-depth interviews and a focus group discussion were used to collect data. Following a thematic analysis of this data, the study found that the Sarva Dharma Ashram played a central role in empowering and enabling the wellbeing of disadvantaged family and community members. The ashram not only provided assistance when psychosocial or financial distress was encountered but also highlighted the spiritual support offered to families and other community members in order to transcend the socioeconomic ills they faced as a marginalised community. Full article

Traditional Irish medicines are often intertwined with ritual and spirituality, making it difficult to substantiate the validity of their claims. In this manuscript, we use molecular and microscopic techniques to investigate some microorganisms that might be responsible for the reputed healing properties of an ancient Irish soil cure known as the Blessed clay from a site in Boho in the West Fermanagh Scarplands. We previously reported the isolation of an antibiotic producing bacteria from this soil. In this report, we characterize the antibiotic activity of a further six isolates of Streptomyces from this source. Two of these isolates inhibit the growth of multi-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, two inhibit the growth of the yeast Starmerella bombicola, and two have as yet undetermined activity. Genetic analysis of these Streptomyces reveals the potential to synthesize varieties of antibiotics similar to cypemycin, griseochelin, macrolactams, and candicidin. From these observations, we suggest that part of the medicinal reputation of the Blessed clay may lie in the diversity of antimicrobial producing Streptomyces isolated from this soil. These findings highlight the potential for antibiotic discovery in this area. Full article

Numerous spirituality models and tools have been developed in health education and research, but a gap still exists around the conceptual clarity and articulation of spirituality among nurses and healthcare providers. Nurses and healthcare providers still find it difficult to interpret and apply the concepts of spirituality in their practice settings. This paper provides a concept analysis of spirituality using the Walker and Avant method of conceptual analysis. Several databases including conceptual and empirical literature from various disciplines have been used. The defining attributes of spirituality included spirituality and religion as a separable or mutual construct, spirituality as a personal construct, wholeness and integration, meaning making and purpose, sense of connectedness and relationship, transcendence, inner source of power, energy, and strength. Major antecedents of spirituality found were faith, personal values, and belief systems, and life adversities. Consequences of spirituality included personal/spiritual growth and wellbeing, resilience, and religiousness. Spirituality is a unique and personal human experience, an individualised journey characterised by multiple experiential accounts such as meaning making, purpose, connectedness, wholeness and integration, energy, and transcendence. Spiritual experiences are often difficult to examine and measure using scientific tools and empirical language. Healthcare providers need to fully understand and apply spirituality and spiritual care aspects to provide holistic person-centred care. Full article

In 1919, three Ugandan Anglicans converted to Orthodox Christianity, as they became sure that this was Christianity’s original and only true form. In 1946, Ugandan Orthodox Christians aligned with the Eastern Orthodox Church of Alexandria. Since the 1990s, new trends in conversion to Orthodox Christianity in Uganda can be observed: one is some growth in the number of new converts to the canonical Orthodox Church, while another is the appearance of new Orthodox Churches, including parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia and the Russian Orthodox Old-Rite Church. The questions we raise in this article are: Why did some Ugandans switch from other religions to Orthodox Christianity in the first half of the 20th century and in more recent years? Were there common reasons for these two developments? We argue that both processes should be understood as attempts by some Ugandans to find their own way in the modern world. Trying to escape spiritually from the impact of colonialism, post-coloniality, and globalization, they viewed Catholicism, Anglicanism, and Islam as part of the legacy they rejected. These people did not turn to African traditional beliefs either. They already firmly saw their own tradition as Christian, but were (and are) seeking its “true”, “original” form. We emphasize that by rejecting post-colonial globalist modernity and embracing Orthodox Christianity as the basis of their own “alternative” modernity, these Ugandans themselves turn out to be modern products, and this speaks volumes about the nature of conversion in contemporary Africa. The article is based on field evidence collected in 2017–2019 as well as on print sources. Full article

This article begins to develop a theology for the multi-worldview seeker, based on the constructive theological work of Gordon Kaufman. Seeking, as discussed in this article, is an attitude of life, characterized by interest in more than one theological, philosophical, or spiritual worldview, without any short or mid-term intention to commit oneself to one of them. In the United States, the Unitarian Universalist Association is a denomination that houses many theological seekers. The principles and sources of faith of that denomination offer an interesting foundation for the attitude of seeking. Constructing a theology for the seeker based on these principles should include a coherent account of concepts such as truth, God, spiritual growth, and ethics as they might follow from those principles. This article identifies possible incoherencies in the use of these concepts by seekers and proposes ways to escape them. Full article

Although some research has suggested means of promoting spiritual development in higher education, no systematic studies or literature reviews have been conducted to know what sources are most used for the spiritual growth of university students. This aspect was studied in a sample of 309 Spanish university students (Mean age = 21.40, range 18–25). The used sources were (in descending order) as follows: the practice of a virtuous behavior, cognitive-reflexive, nature-based, cultural, and religious sources. Women showed a higher use of cognitive-reflective and virtuous behavior-based sources. Age was related only and negatively to the use of religious sources. These results are consistent with previous studies indicating a greater religiosity in women and a lesser importance of religion in contemporary society and, particularly, in the life of young adults. However, taken as a whole, they indicate the importance of sociological and cultural aspects, in particular of the movement from traditional religiosity to religious indifference and dissatisfaction with institutional religion and/or toward spiritual movements linked to humanistic religions and spiritualities of life. It also points out the need to use a variety of strategies to foster the spiritual development of students. Full article