Emily Dickinson was a poet who existed at the center of her nineteenth-century United States culture and yet wrote from a periphery located at the edge of her being. Integral to understanding her poetry is a contextual awareness of her spiritual struggle. The experience of cultural marginalization and the way it informs art through a peripheral perspective has been the focus of examination in much of modern and post-modern literary studies where attention is given as much to an author's cultural station as to his or her artistic creation. A close study of Emily Dickinson's poetry reveals a spiritually marginalized perspective which closely resembles the structural framework of cultural marginalization. While there are areas of Dickinson's poetic perspective where these two experiences merge, my examination of Dickinson concentrates on her personal spiritual liminality in her relationship with God as expressed in the context of her poetry and letters. / by Linda Pergolizzi Gallagher. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2007. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, FL : 2007 Mode of access: World Wide Web.

In the current study, we aimed to explore the relationship between perceived stress, spirituality and self-esteem and how they are related to psychological QOL. We found that our overall model accounted for 58% of the total variance in psychological QOL (adj. R2 = .58, F(10, 136) = 21.79, p < .001) with stress (β = -.37, p < .01) and self-esteem (β = .45, p < .01) as the significant predictors. Additionally we found that spiritual beliefs and practices moderate the relationship between stress and QOL (adj. R2= .49, F(11, 135) = 13.88, p < .001). Lastly, we conducted a principle component analysis (PCA) on our three variables of interest and outcome variable to determine whether the proposed structure of our measures holds true for our sample (i.e., LGB populations).

This research study examined the spirituality comfort levels amongst social work students. This study examined 48 social work students who participated in this study with most participants being Hispanic females, however, there were other various participants. Quantitative research was used for this study by handing out surveys to Master of Social Work students at California State University, San Bernardino. Students were asked to state their opinions and views to the following: spirituality in social work practice, spirituality and professional interventions, need for spirituality education and training, personal ideology, and demographics. The results of this study suggest that students are open and comfortable with the idea of spirituality in social work practice, however, they are uncomfortable when applying concrete terms and ideology to practice. This is due to the fact that students have stated they are not satisfied with their spirituality education and need more of it to integrate it into practice. Students have stated they have not received the proper spirituality education needed to serve clients, and are willing to enroll in spirituality integration classes for further professional growth.

ABSTRACT The integration of spirituality in Social Work is on the rise, but due to the lack of literature on spiritually-involved interventions and applicable integration of spirituality into ones practice, literature suggests social workers do not feel competent or confident in this area of practice. This study explores the attitudes and beliefs of social workers in San Bernardino County towards spirituality in their own practice and social work overall. The data is collected through audio recording individual interviews with each participant, which are then transcribed into transcripts. The transcripts are coded for themes and commonalities among the participants. Results lay the foundation for further research and conversation regarding spirituality and how to further integrate or continue integrating it into social work practice in San Bernardino County.

Mini-dissertation (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

In light of claims that liberalism has led to a breakdown in society, this paper refutes these claims by examining how workplace spirituality at Starbucks Coffee impacts the identities of several employees. While others have examined workplace spirituality as a management technique, this study illustrates how it could be understood as a distinctly modern way of being religious. By linking the ethnography to recent religious trends, this study illustrates how employees are cultivating a spirituality of an inner self. Specifically, these employees accomplish three things. First, they claim to discover their true authentic self. Also, despite the alienation of modern life, workplace spirituality helps employees establish new forms of community. Third, they rework traditional notions of authority in the workplace in ways that strengthen a connection with their inner selves. Finally, the author briefly explores the broader ethical and religious implications that arise from understanding the dynamics of workplace spirituality.

Henry Suso (c. 1295-1366) and Richard Rolle (c. 1300-1349) were two of the most popular authors in late-medieval England and Germany: their Latin works survive in hundreds of manuscripts owned by both lay and religious readers across Europe. Authority and exemplarity are central to their works, both writers present themselves as eponymous characters in their works, creating "pseudo-autobiographies" which offer their author-characters to the reader as ideal exemplars for imitation. Also central to their authorial strategy is their attention to feminine aspects of both divinity and audience; both imagine themselves as brides of Christ even as they pledge their devotion to Wisdom, a (female) combination of the Old Testament Goddess and Christ incarnate. The imagery of courtly love is employed both as an enticement for readers and as a natural extension of their internalization of the allegorical interpretation of the Song of Songs; their claims to bear the name of Jesus on their heart lead to iconographic crossover in representations of Rolle in English manuscripts. Music and aurality are repeatedly employed as a fundamental aspect of their descriptions of mystical experience. Suso was read widely in late-medieval England, both in Latin and in English translation; as his popularity grew, so too did his influence on English literature and theology. The chapters of the Horologium Sapientiae on the Eucharist and the art of dying well proved especially popular. Two Carthusians, Nicholas Love and the author of the Speculum Devotorum, for instance, both drew on Suso's treatment of the Eucharist in reinforcing orthodox beliefs surrounding the sacrament of the altar – yet a recently-discovered independent translation of the same text is found in a manuscript otherwise containing Lollard tracts. Suso's liturgy in honor of Eternal Wisdom proved his most popular and enduring contribution to English literature: it entered Sarum Use Books of Hours by the end of the fifteenth century and was printed in English translation towards the end of the sixteenth.

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship of family spiritual interdependence to the well-being of elders and their family caregivers within Korean family caregiving situations. The correlation of spirituality and well-being between elders and caregivers and the actor and partner effect of spirituality on well-being were examined in terms of how family members' spirituality influences their own and partners' well-being.One hundred fifty-seven Korean elder-family caregiver dyads in Seoul, Korea participated and completed independently three spirituality instruments and four well-being instruments independently: Spiritual Perspective Scale (Reed, 1987), Self-Transcendence Scale (Reed, 1986) and Purpose in Life (Crumbaugh, 1968), Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (Radloff, 1977), Satisfaction With Life Scale (Diener, et al., 1985) and Positive And Negative Affect Schedules (Watson et al., 1988).The correlations were performed to identify whether demographic variables significantly related to study variables. Several variables regarding family and social interactions related significantly to spirituality and well-being in both elder and caregiver group.The correlations of spirituality and well-being between elders and caregivers reported that elders' spirituality significantly related to caregivers' spirituality and caregivers' well-being significantly related to elders' well-being.The actor and partner effects of spirituality on well-being between elders and caregivers were tested using the Actor-Partner-Interdependence Model (Kashy & Kenny, 2000; Kenny, 1996). The results found that there were significant actor effects. First, spiritual perspective negatively influenced their own positive affect. Self-transcendence positively predicted their own depression and negative affect. Also, Self-transcendence positively predicted their satisfaction with life and positive affect. In addition, purpose in life negatively influenced their own depression and negative affect. Purpose in life positively influenced their own satisfaction with life and positive affect.There was a significant partner affect. Self-transcendence positively predicted their partner's depression. Also, self-transcendence positively influenced their partner's positive and negative affect. There were no significant partner effects from spiritual perspective and purpose in life to well-being. These findings indicate that the health and well-being of family members may be best understood within the context that includes the spiritual dimension of caregiving, particularly the concept of self-transcendence as it relates to several well-being factors.

Today's organisations are faced with changes such as increased competition and technological changes, not to mention the impact of globalisation on South African organisations. In a sense, the 21" century brought forth a more positive outlook and is described by some as the century of fortegenic living and wellness. Organisations today are searching for programmes that support strengths and wellness, as opposed to the historic employee assistance programmes. Spiritual wellness seems to be the antibiotic for these negative impacts. The objective of this study was to conceptualise spiritual work wellness and develop basic, generic guidelines for the implementation of spiritual work wellness programmes within .the diverse organisational context of South Africa. A qualitative method was applied as the approach that guided the research. The participants were recruited by making use of a combined purposive and network sampling. The sample size (N = 10) was determined by data saturation. Data gathering was done by means of a semi-structured interview with each of the participants. Where the need arose, the participants were afforded the opportunity for in-depth discussions and clarification. Data-analysis was done by means of cognitive mapping, followed by the transcription of data and the combined technique of content analysis. Data-analysis was also done by an independent co-coder. From the discussion of the research results and literature control, conclusions were made regarding spiritual wellness with specific reference to the workplace and to how spiritual wellness is conceptualised from the literature and also to the contribution of that conceptualisation towards answering certain essential questions. More conclusions concerning spiritual work wellness were made through the experts’ perceptions of how spiritual work wellness relates to the South African work force. Through further discussion of the results, guidelines were formulated for effective spiritual work wellness programme implementation within the diverse workforce of South Africa and were reflected in the recommendations of the research. / Mini-dissertation (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Education))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.