Symposium V
Spirituality, Meaning making and Coping
Saturday, May 14, 2016, 10:30 - 12:00
Chair: Kevin L. Ladd
1. Spiritual Framework of Coping: Understanding the Impact of Spirituality in Adaptation to Illness
Terry Lynn Gall
The past 20 years have been witness to a virtual explosion of research in the area of psychology, religion, and spirituality. Given the complexity and vastness of this research domain, it is important that researchers be aware of existing theoretical models and the current state of the literature and its limitations. Firstly, this paper will present the Spiritual Framework for Coping as one model that can aid in the integration and understanding of spiritual factors in adaptation to stress. Using the transactional model of stress and coping (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984) as its foundation, the Spiritual Framework represents a flexible, process model that accommodates the multi-faceted function of spirituality (negative and positive influences) in the process of coping with significant life stress. Secondly, this paper will review and evaluate the current state of the empirical literature in the area of spiritual coping and propose future research directions. Thirdly, as one element of this model, current data will be presented on the role of spiritual causal attributions in coping with the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.
2. Qualitative Approaches to Meaning-Making Coping in Sweden and South Korea
Fereshteh Ahmadi, Jisung Park, Kyung Mee Kim, Nader Ahmadi
This article presents the result of a study aimed to present and compare the result of studies conducted in South Korea and Sweden concerning the use of the meaning-making coping (existential, spiritual and religious coping) among cancer patients and the role of culture in the choice of these methods. In South Korea 33 participants and in Sweden 51were interviewed. The comparison between the two studies shows that Swedes are more spirituality-conscious and express their thoughts in the language of spirituality in compared to Koreans. For Swedes, meaning making coping methods were chosen as a means of meditation, relaxation, whereas Koreans chose their coping methods such as prayer and having healthy foods as a means to cure. Swedes enjoy positive solitude and are individual-oriented, but have tendency towards altruism, whereas Koreans are generally collective-oriented. Swedes become altruistic and find empathy toward the whole society when they looked in the meaning of their existence of getting ill. Koreans appreciated having intimate relation with people around when they were ill but they did not develop any altruistic view.
Study confirms that it is important to see the cultural difference when we look at the meaning-making coping among people who experienced cancer.
PowerPoint slides of the presentation (PDF)
3. Investigating the Lived Experience of Transformative Coping: The Benefits of Creativity and Spirituality in Dealing with Trauma and Loss - The Case of Mrs S. from Northern Ireland
Dagmar Anna S. Corry, Christopher Alan Lewis
The concept of transformative coping was introduced in Corry and Lewis (2014). The theory posits that the combined application of creativity and spirituality as a positive, and proactive coping strategy fosters personal growth and transformation, increases positive emotions and strengthens resilience. These combined benefits enable individuals to better cope with life’s difficulties and so to attain and maintain better mental health. Taking a nomothetic approach, the theory has been tested both quantitatively (Corry, Mallett, Lewis, & Abdel-Khalek, 2013), and qualitatively (Corry, Tracey, & Lewis, 2015), with further studies underway.
Adopting a more idiographic method, the present aim was to provide a personal account of the lived experience of transformative coping through a case study.
The data consist of an in-depth interview with a 67 year old female (Mrs S.) with bipolar disorder in Northern Ireland. The data was subjected to Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith & Osborn, 2007).
The impact of early nurture of both creativity and spirituality was discussed by Mrs S. along with the application of both spirituality and creativity in the face of trauma, loss, and emotional difficulties. The beneficial effects of transformative coping over her lifespan were expressed by the interviewee as a reduction in negative thinking, a more positive attitude, increased self-esteem, hope, and meaningful activity, resulting in greater resilience. As a result she was able to manage her emotions, was no longer suicidal and was able to greatly reduce the amount of medication she had been taking for years, and which had a determental effect on her memory and concentration, as well as on her quality of life.
Transformative coping has enabled Mrs S. to cope with the often significant challenges in her life, empowered her to take control of her mental health, and gave her a significantly more positive outlook which she is able to maintain.
4. Towards a Narrative Understanding of Quality of Life: Making Meaning of Contingent Life Events
Iris Hartog, Michael Scherer-Rath, Renske Kruizinga, Justine Netjes, José Henriques, Pythia Nieuwkerk, Hanneke van Laarhoven, Mirjam Sprangers
Falling ill is often experienced as a ‘contingent life event’: an event that befalls people, causing conflict with their goals and expectations in life. Research on how people make meaning of contingent life events in the context of their personal life narrative and how this influences their quality of life (QoL), can improve our understanding of QoL. We propose a new, narrative approach to meaning making of contingent life events and its influence on QoL.
We carried out a literature search on meaning making, contingency, life goals, narrative identity, worldview, well-being and QoL in the fields of psychology, sociology, religious studies and philosophy. Based on this literature and building on the existing ‘Analytical model for reconstructing the interpretation of life stories’, we developed a theoretical model on meaning making of contingent life events.
We propose a model entailing the following elements: Contingent life events: events that are significant for a person’s life as a whole and could also have happened differently or not at all. Ultimate life goals: personal goals that are of ultimate value. Experience of contingency: a crisis of meaning caused by a contingent life event, disrupting the life story. Meaning making: re-interpretation of the contingent life event in the context of one’s own life narrative, encompassing 1) appreciation (positive or negative); 2) agency (passive or active); 3) scope (situational, existential or religious); and 4) ‘relating to contingency’ (denial, recognition, acceptance or receiving).
A person’s framework of reference, informing how he/she perceives the world and human life (and death). Quality of life: the person’s self-evaluation of the experienced quality of life. Relationships between the elements: When experienced as a contingent life event, falling ill conflicts with one or more ultimate life goals, which are rooted in the person’s worldview. This can result in an experience of contingency. The process of meaning making that follows is influenced by the person’s worldview. Meaning making, in particular the way the person relates to the contingency of the event, influences QoL.
Our theoretical model elucidates how people make meaning of illness and other contingent life events in a narrative way. The way people make meaning of contingent life events is expected to influence their QoL. Based on this model, we developed a quantitative questionnaire that is currently tested in a large-scale quality-of-life-study.