Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Homiletics))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2006. / Title from title screen. Layli Phillips, committee chair; Margaret Mills Harper, Carol Marsh-Lockett, committee members. Electronic text (64 p.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed Apr. 20, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 57-64).

This study examined the relationship between spirituality/religiousness and quality of life and the moderating effect of comorbid illness in a sample of 308 long-term cancer survivors who had received an initial primary cancer diagnosis of breast, prostate, colorectal, and Hodgkin's disease at least 5 prior to the beginning of the study. In addition to the self-report measures assessing the variable of interest, participants completed a set of socio-demographic items and several questions related to their cancer treatment at entry into the study (T1) and at a second assessment 12 months later (T2). Results showed that each spirituality/religiousness and comorbidity was significantly related to various aspects of quality of life at both time points of assessment. More specifically, spirituality/religiousness was significantly associated with greater cancer benefits, enhanced general quality of life, lower sexual dysfunction, but unexpectedly, greater family-related distress at T1. Similarly, comorbidity significantly related to more financial problems, worries about appearance, and pain at both time points. Greater comorbidity was also significantly associated with more sexual dysfunction and lower general quality of life at T1. Findings also provided supported for the moderating role of comorbidity on various domains of quality of life both concurrently (i.e., family-related distress and appearance concerns) and prospectively (i.e., family-related distress and pain). In some cases, the direction of the interaction effect was in the predicted direction such that greater spirituality/religiousness related to lower family-related distress (prospectively) and more appearance concerns (concurrently at T2) among survivors with a new comorbidity, for example. In other cases, the direction of the interaction was contrary to expectations, such that higher spirituality/religiousness was associated with greater family-related distress (concurrently at T1) and more pain (prospectively) among the group of survivors with greater comorbidity. Possible explanations for the apparently inconsistent findings are offered as well as recommendations for future research.

The purpose of this research was to examine and describe the relationships among health status, marital status, income level, education level, age, and body mass index (BMI) with the added influence of spirituality on the health promotion behaviors of African American women, living in South Florida. The sample consisted of 137 women, 18 to 64 years of age, who were born in the United States and whose parents were born in the United States. Each participant completed a demographic questionnaire, the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP II), the Short Form-36 Health survey (SF-36), and the Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS). Descriptive and inferential statistics with an alpha level of .05 were used for data analysis. Statistically significant findings were (1) a positive relationship between health promotion behaviors and formal education, (2) a positive relationship between health promotion behaviors and spirituality (existential well-being), and (3) a negative relationship between health promotion behaviors and number of children. In the regression model, the five sets of variables together accounted for 25.5% of the variance in overall health promotion behaviors of African American women F (15, 121) = 2.768, p < .01. The health promotion behaviors of African American women were not significantly affected by health status, marital status or BMI. Of the five demographic variables entered in the model, only number of children and education made statistically significant, unique contributions to health promotion behaviors. A sense of life satisfaction and purpose (existential well-being) made an additional, statistically significant, unique contribution to health promotion behaviors among African American women. The unique contribution of religious well-being was trivial. Therefore, formal education, number of children, and spirituality (existential well-being) may be used as predictors of health promotion behaviors among African American women, based on the results of this study. Culturally appropriate and relevant interventions used to encourage and educate African American women to increase physical activity, and decrease caloric intake are critical to mitigate the high rate of morbidity and mortality that African American women experience from CVD.

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between wellness, spirituality, and personal dispositions of practicing professional counselors. A sequential, mixed-methods case study design was utilized to achieve this purpose. Thirty professional counselors completed three assessment instruments measuring wellness, spirituality, and personal dispositions. Five of these counselors also participated in the qualitative portion of the study. This included the review of photographs of their offices and copies of their résumés and professional disclosure statements as well as participation in a telephone interview. Following the use of Pearson Product Correlations to analyze relationships in the data from the assessment instruments, two positive relationships were found. Spirituality was positively correlated with the disposition of rule-consciousness. A positive relationship was found between wellness and emotional stability. In addition, three negative relationships were found. The dispositions of apprehension, perfectionism, and tension were all negatively correlated with wellness. No significant relationship was found between wellness and spirituality. These data were used to develop the interview protocol for the qualitative portion of the study. The constant comparative method was used to analyze the qualitative data. Five themes were developed within the second iteration of analysis: commitment to the philosophies of the profession, a foundation of ethics, coordination, social networks, and personal fulfillment. These resulted in the development of the third iteration of the professional counselor as an integrated whole. These enhanced the findings of the quantitative portion of the study by providing a description of how the relationships found in the quantitative data impact and present in the work of professional counselors. This was the first known study to utilize a mixed-methods design to explore wellness, spirituality, and personal dispositions in professional counselors. Future studies should continue to explore the relationships among these factors and how they impact professional practice. These should include the use of a larger sample size as well as the identification of specific behaviors utilized by professional counselors to promote the development of wellness and positive personal dispositions.

Abstract Although spiritual or religious behaviors are sometimes targeted within behavioral activation protocols (Hopko & Lejuez, 2007; Hopko, Lejuez, Ruggiero, & Eifert, 2003), the efficacy of a protocol that exclusively develops a religiously-based behavioral repertoire has not been investigated. This randomized controlled study investigated the efficacy of a brief protocol for religious action in behavioral activation (PRA-BA) relative to a no-treatment “support” condition among mild to moderately depressed undergraduate students (n = 50). PRA-BA consisted of an individualized one-session intervention and 2-week activation interval. Clinical outcomes assessed depression, environmental reward, anxiety, and quality of life. Repeated measures ANOVAs indicated that the PRA-BA group had significantly greater decreases in depression and anxiety and increases in environmental reward at post-treatment. There was also a statistical trend indicating that PRA-BA may improve quality of life. At one-month follow-up, treatment gains were maintained for the PRA-BA participants. This study provides encouraging support for the efficacy of a strictly religiously-based behavioral intervention toward attenuating symptoms of depression in college students.

Aim: The purpose of this study was to highlight in what forms and manifestations spirituality emerges in medical patients whether they consider themselves believers or not. The other aim was to analyse spiritual ideas of nursing scientists – authors of the patients’ oriented studies to come to the better understanding of the situation with spirituality in caring. Method: Descriptive meta-synthesis was chosen, in which 12 nursing studies were analyzed and compiled in a new integrity. Results: The analysis shows that caregivers must be ready to meet and confirm the spiritual dimension consisting of Faith, Meaning, Relationship and Questions without answers in the various forms and expressions they emerge in patient’s experience. Nursing scientists showed ideas broad enough to confirm patients’ experience. Relevance for clinical practice: By include spirituality only to religion and culture the dimension are easily forgotten, it can also in those forms mean that caregivers doesn’t see it as theirs to confirm. Nursing science do not with hold that small view of spirituality, instead the science presents a broad spectra of forms in which patients spirituality can appear. New insights about patients’ spirituality can be used by health care professionals to improve the care of patients as multidimensional human beings.

This dissertation examines the legacy of secrecy, silences, and the unspoken in twentieth century African American literary texts. Using a range of texts representing various eras within the genre of African American literature, this dissertation contends that secrecy is a trope and may be attributed to inherited, maintained traditional practices from West and West Central Africa. Having read a number of African American texts and connecting my personal experiences with these works, I noticed a pattern of withheld discourse throughout. Most notably, Leslie Lewis’s Telling Narratives posits a reason for this trope by examining earlier narratives, specifically nineteenth-century African American texts. She argues the master/slave relationship as the prevailing reason for the secretive motif. Yet, traditional and cultural practices noted in early African publications demonstrate that Africans were keeping secrets prior to their diasporic scatterings. By examining early West African-derived works, as well as nineteenth-century African American texts, I ground my position that secrecy as we see it evolves from or relates to early signifying and language manipulations, particular to African-derived people. Thus, the early works connect sustained homeland ties to the literature that follows, providing an explanation for the secrecy reflected in African American literature. This study highlights three types of secrets: identity, family, and sexual, all of which are interrelated and, out of one, the other type may result. The texts that best demonstrate these silences are James Weldon Johnson’s The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man and Nella Larsen’s Passing; James Baldwin’s Go Tell It on the Mountain and Alice Walker’s The Color Purple; and Gayl Jones’s Corregidora and Lalita Tademy’s Cane River. Each text group corresponds with a secret type. Overall, this dissertation challenges the notion that secrecy as a trope in African American literature limits itself to the master/slave relationship in the United States. The previously mentioned texts highlight a direct link to West and West Central African traditions maintained after the Middle Passage. Hence, these preserved homeland customs, including secrecy, are reflected in twentieth-century African American literature.

The purpose of this qualitative study is to address the problem of the silencing of adolescent girls and young women by exploring their spiritual experiences and knowledge of their inner selves. Five participants between the ages of 18 and 25 were interviewed 3 times over several weeks about their spiritual experiences, artefacts of spiritual significance, and beliefs about their inner selves. The findings of this study reveal that young women are deeply interested in nurturing their spirituality, which they are not finding in religion, and they are looking elsewhere for a spirituality that embraces a feminine ethic of care and responsibility.