The role of religious and spiritual belief and practice in coping and adjusting to spousal bereavement in later life
The death of a spouse is a distressing life event that is most common in later life. Recently, a small body of research has suggested that religion and spirituality can have a beneficial influence on bereavement outcome. The aim of the present thesis was to investigate how Christian religious/spirit...
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ndltd-bl.uk-oai-ethos.bl.uk-5363742018-09-05T03:25:18ZThe role of religious and spiritual belief and practice in coping and adjusting to spousal bereavement in later lifeSpreadbury, John HenryColeman, Peter2011The death of a spouse is a distressing life event that is most common in later life. Recently, a small body of research has suggested that religion and spirituality can have a beneficial influence on bereavement outcome. The aim of the present thesis was to investigate how Christian religious/spiritual belief and practice can facilitate coping and adjustment to spousal bereavement in later life. The present thesis reports four studies, two qualitative and two quantitative. Study 1 was a longitudinal follow-up of survivors from a previous study of spousal bereavement, and investigated experiences of longer term coping and adjustment. Results identified that participants used both religious and secular resources in adjustment and that those with a strong religious belief reported adjustment marked by the least difficulties. Study 2 focused on older adults with a strong Christian belief and aimed to identify the religious content and practice most important in coping with spousal bereavement. Interpretative phenomenological analysis revealed four main themes: benevolent religious cognition, Biblical assurances, religious ritual, and spiritual capital, that in different ways were related to meaning reconstruction. As religious ritual seemed important yet is under researched, Study 3 aimed to develop the first scale of its kind to measure religious ritual. A 35-item scale was developed, named the Importance of Religious Ritual Scale, and psychometric properties were provided including factor structure, construct validity, internal consistency reliability, and temporal reliability. Study 4 included the religious ritual scale in a cross-sectional study comparing salient religious and secular variables in predicting grief, depression, and anxiety in recently bereaved older adults. Results revealed that high importance of religious ritual was a predictor of lower grief and depression; and daily spiritual experience was a predictor of lower anxiety. It is proposed that benevolent religious beliefs and religious scripture are used in meaningmaking processes, while religious ritual and religious/spiritual emotions are primarily used in managing and regulating grief-related affect. Findings are discussed within existing bereavement theory150BF PsychologyUniversity of Southamptonhttps://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.536374https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/193657/Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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150 BF Psychology |
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150 BF Psychology Spreadbury, John Henry The role of religious and spiritual belief and practice in coping and adjusting to spousal bereavement in later life |
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The death of a spouse is a distressing life event that is most common in later life. Recently, a small body of research has suggested that religion and spirituality can have a beneficial influence on bereavement outcome. The aim of the present thesis was to investigate how Christian religious/spiritual belief and practice can facilitate coping and adjustment to spousal bereavement in later life. The present thesis reports four studies, two qualitative and two quantitative. Study 1 was a longitudinal follow-up of survivors from a previous study of spousal bereavement, and investigated experiences of longer term coping and adjustment. Results identified that participants used both religious and secular resources in adjustment and that those with a strong religious belief reported adjustment marked by the least difficulties. Study 2 focused on older adults with a strong Christian belief and aimed to identify the religious content and practice most important in coping with spousal bereavement. Interpretative phenomenological analysis revealed four main themes: benevolent religious cognition, Biblical assurances, religious ritual, and spiritual capital, that in different ways were related to meaning reconstruction. As religious ritual seemed important yet is under researched, Study 3 aimed to develop the first scale of its kind to measure religious ritual. A 35-item scale was developed, named the Importance of Religious Ritual Scale, and psychometric properties were provided including factor structure, construct validity, internal consistency reliability, and temporal reliability. Study 4 included the religious ritual scale in a cross-sectional study comparing salient religious and secular variables in predicting grief, depression, and anxiety in recently bereaved older adults. Results revealed that high importance of religious ritual was a predictor of lower grief and depression; and daily spiritual experience was a predictor of lower anxiety. It is proposed that benevolent religious beliefs and religious scripture are used in meaningmaking processes, while religious ritual and religious/spiritual emotions are primarily used in managing and regulating grief-related affect. Findings are discussed within existing bereavement theory |
author2 |
Coleman, Peter |
author_facet |
Coleman, Peter Spreadbury, John Henry |
author |
Spreadbury, John Henry |
author_sort |
Spreadbury, John Henry |
title |
The role of religious and spiritual belief and practice in coping and adjusting to spousal bereavement in later life |
title_short |
The role of religious and spiritual belief and practice in coping and adjusting to spousal bereavement in later life |
title_full |
The role of religious and spiritual belief and practice in coping and adjusting to spousal bereavement in later life |
title_fullStr |
The role of religious and spiritual belief and practice in coping and adjusting to spousal bereavement in later life |
title_full_unstemmed |
The role of religious and spiritual belief and practice in coping and adjusting to spousal bereavement in later life |
title_sort |
role of religious and spiritual belief and practice in coping and adjusting to spousal bereavement in later life |
publisher |
University of Southampton |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.536374 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT spreadburyjohnhenry theroleofreligiousandspiritualbeliefandpracticeincopingandadjustingtospousalbereavementinlaterlife AT spreadburyjohnhenry roleofreligiousandspiritualbeliefandpracticeincopingandadjustingtospousalbereavementinlaterlife |
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