Keeping the Faith: Religion, Positive Coping, and Mental Health of Caregivers During COVID-19

Sen, Heera Elize; Colucci, Laura; Browne, Dillon T.

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.805019

Cited by 25 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…Emerging literature shows that spirituality helps promote mental health and reduce social isolation. In a study of caregivers ( N = 549) conducted during COVID pandemic, researchers found that higher levels of religiosity and spirituality were associated with lower levels of psychological distress [ 25 ]. Furthermore, they found that the relationship was mediated by higher levels of positive coping among those with high religiosity and spirituality.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spirituality for Social Isolation in a Patient with Cognitive Impairment: A Case Report

Padala,

Ramakrishnan,

Crawford

2024

ADR

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Background: Social isolation is very common and has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Objective: To study if spiritual reconnection as part of a multi-component intervention can reduce social isolation in older adults with cognitive impairment. Methods: A longitudinal case study framework was used. A 68-year-old female with mild cognitive impairment presented with social isolation exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. She participated in a telephone-based psychosocial intervention program called Connection Plans for 8 weeks. Motivational interviewing techniques were used to encourage the patient to pick goals to improve the mind, body, and connections. In her connections goal, the patient expressed a desire to make spiritual reconnection. Connecting back to her spirituality was one of the key interventions in this patient. Social isolation, resilience, self-efficacy, and cognition were assessed using standardized rating scales before and after the intervention. Results: The patient was able to identify goals to enhance connections and physical and mental well-being. She successfully reconnected with her spirituality while maintaining COVID prevention measures. At an 8-week follow-up, compared to the baseline visit there was an improvement in measures of social isolation (22/30 to 14/30, a 36% reduction), resilience (12/20 to 20/20, a 67% improvement), and confidence (4/20 to 16/20, a 300% improvement). No improvement was noted in cognition. Conclusions: Spiritual reconnection as part of a multi-component intervention may protect against social isolation in older adults with cognitive impairment. Caution must be exercised in reaching this conclusion as this is a report of a single patient. Systematic studies are needed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spirituality for Social Isolation in a Patient with Cognitive Impairment: A Case Report

Padala,

Ramakrishnan,

Crawford

2024

ADR

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“…Help the client utilize their core R/S belief system to give context and meaning to divine intervention. This empowers the individual and fosters posttraumatic growth (Sen et al, 2022; Shaw et al, 2005).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Traversing trauma: Resilient women’s religious and spiritual stories of hope and strength.

Jerome¹,

Heath²,

Williams³

et al. 2023

Professional Psychology: Research and Practice

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For many individuals, religious and spiritual (R/S) beliefs are a central part of their worldview and provide substantial support when adapting to and coping with life’s challenges. As mental health professionals provide supportive services, they must carefully consider ways to incorporate clients’ R/S beliefs into culturally sensitive and responsive interventions. To gain insight into clients’ adaptive coping when relying on R/S beliefs, this research explored the experiences of 39 women from Christian, Islamic, and Jewish traditions. Each of these individuals accessed their R/S beliefs to adaptively cope following a severe life event. Individual interviews (90–120 min) were conducted with each participant. Employing interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), a systematic review of interview transcripts revealed four common themes of reliance on R/S coping: (a) engaging in important relationships with others who also shared a strong R/S core belief system (CBS), (b) integrating R/S practices with psychological strategies, (c) experiencing and acknowledging divine intervention, and (d) reframing experiences through the use of R/S-oriented thoughts and beliefs. Regardless of religious denomination, participants reported similar R/S coping processes. Participants’ reliance on R/S coping and a strong CBS in a Supreme Being were powerful, stabilizing, and beneficial forces. These findings suggest the importance of mental health professionals understanding, validating, and drawing upon clients’ R/S beliefs, practices, and experiences. This article emphasizes the critical need to better prepare mental health professionals, who may feel insufficiently prepared, to incorporate R/S issues in therapy.

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“…Similarly in another study, the most effective coping strategy to deal with severe stress was religious activities” as practiced by the majority of the “severely stressed” students [ 36 ]. Multiple studies indicate that religiousness encompasses a framework for assigning meaning which is related to reduced stress and the pursuit of mental well-being and life satisfaction [ 37 – 39 ]. Female university students have shown that higher levels of extrinsic religious orientation inversely correlate with depression, anxiety, and stress [ 40 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life satisfaction, resilience and coping mechanisms among medical students during COVID-19

Haider

Ahmed²,

Pasha

et al. 2022

PLoS ONE

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Purpose Life satisfaction influences well-being. Medical students often experience more stress as compared to their counterparts in other disciplines as they are required to meet the demands of both academic workload and clinical responsibilities. However, during the current pandemic, in addition to academic changes, inability to complete clinical placements, loss of peer interaction and social connectedness and, deployment to areas in times of crisis could exacerbate their stress. This would impact their ability to cope with stress and eventually influence their life satisfaction. Students approach these challenges in various ways, either positively, religiously, or by avoiding. This study aimed to explore the association between resilience, coping mechanisms and life satisfaction in medical students during the pandemic. Methods A cross-sectional web-based survey was conducted from undergraduate medical students from year 1 to year 5. Three instruments were used to measure life satisfaction, resilience, and coping, namely The Brief Resilience Scale, The Satisfaction with Life Scale and the COPE inventory. Mean and standard deviation were calculated for all continuous variables. Robust linear regression model was used for analysis. Hierarchical (forward) stepwise model building technique was used for final model. Alpha cut off was kept at 0.05. Results A total of 351 students (out of 500 students) completed the questionnaires. A moderately negative, slightly linear correlation between life satisfaction and avoidant coping was reported. Life satisfaction showed moderately positive, slightly linear correlation with resilience score. Three variables stayed significant in the final model: Resilience, avoidant coping, and religion coping. Conclusion Life satisfaction can be improved among medical students by focusing on strategies which enhance resilience. Religion is identified as a significant coping strategy among medical students. Students coping mechanism can vary and more research is needed to assess which types of coping strategies could contribute positively to the quality of their personal and professional lives

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Keeping the Faith: Religion, Positive Coping, and Mental Health of Caregivers During COVID-19

Cited by 25 publications

References 56 publications

Spirituality for Social Isolation in a Patient with Cognitive Impairment: A Case Report

Spirituality for Social Isolation in a Patient with Cognitive Impairment: A Case Report

Traversing trauma: Resilient women’s religious and spiritual stories of hope and strength.

Life satisfaction, resilience and coping mechanisms among medical students during COVID-19

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