Spiritual counselling mitigates loneliness and promotes affect balance for older empty nester couples: A study in some international cities

Abstract

This article reports a study examining the impact of a spiritual counselling programme (SCP) on older empty nester couples' loneliness experiences and affect balance. Since empty nesters are usually couples with a greater likelihood of interdependence in the psychosocial domains, there is a need to examine interdependent effects or actorpartner interdependent effects of interventions. Twenty-four online SCP sessions were conducted throughout the year with the intervention group couples who were assessed on loneliness and affect balance outcomes pre-and post-test compared with couples in the waitlist control group. The impact of SCP was significant, with lower loneliness post-test scores and higher affect balance for couples from Russian and European cities, Christians, those who were well educated, in good health, those who attended at least 75% of the SCP sessions and regularly practised at home. Number of SCP sessions attended and home practice mediated the relationship between demographic predictors and outcomes. Results of the actor-partner interdependence model analyses indicated that intervention group couples' post-test outcome measure scores were mutually interdependent and associated. Wives whose husbands attended more SCP lessons and regularly practised at home were more likely to do so themselves. This investigation fills the gap in empty nest literature of examining the efficacy of a specifically designed intervention for empty nesters.

The Effect of COVID -19 Crisis on Hopelessness, Loneliness and Spiritual Well-Being of Patients with Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes in Turkey

“…In this study, it was found that there was a negative significant relationship between loneliness and spiritual well-being levels of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetic patients. In some studies, like the current study, it was found that spiritual well-being reduces loneliness (Dashtbozorgi et al, 2016 ; Gallegos & Segrin, 2019 ; Pandya, 2020 ). It can be said that spirituality is effective in reducing the loneliness of diabetic patients.…”

“…In this study, it was found that there was a negative significant relationship between loneliness and spiritual wellbeing levels of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetic patients. Other published studies indicated that spiritual well-being reduced loneliness (Dashtbozorgi et al, 2016;Gallegos & Segrin, 2019;Pandya, 2020).…”

Spiritual Counseling During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy: a Qualitative Study

“…This type of support meets the needs of those who feel the need to engage with someone who can also understand the meaning of their faith, responding to issues that others are unable to consider. This type of matching increases psychological well-being (Maynard & Snodgrass, 2015 ) and self-awareness (Pandya, 2020 ). All of this allowed the participants in the present study to reduce the anxiety produced by the COVID-19 pandemic by counteracting feelings of loneliness fear, and boredom.…”