Examining the differential protective effects of women's spirituality and religiosity on alcohol and marijuana use by sexual identity

The current study explored how religiosity and spirituality may differentially influence substance use by sexual identity based on a sample of adult sexual minority women (SMW; n = 437 lesbian; n = 323 bisexual) relative to a heterosexual comparison sample (n = 636). We examined three questions: (1) whether spirituality was differentially associated with alcohol and marijuana use by sexual identity; (2) whether religiosity was differentially associated with alcohol and marijuana use by sexual identity; (3) whether observed differences between spirituality or religiosity and substance use by sexual identity persisted after adjusting for religious environment. Measures included spirituality (importance of spirituality), religiosity (importance of religion, attending religious services), and past year substance use (alcohol use disorder [AUD], any marijuana use, and regular marijuana use). Higher levels of spirituality were associated with increased odds of AUD among both lesbian and bisexual respondents relative to heterosexuals. Higher levels of religiosity among lesbian participants were associated with increased odds of AUD relative to heterosexuals with higher levels of religiosity. Consistent with theories of minority stress, findings suggest that spirituality and religiosity are less protective for SMW than heterosexual women and, in some cases, may contribute to greater risk of substance use.

Validity and Reliability of Cultural Mix Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations among Healthcare Professionals in Ghana Amidst COVID-19

The Cultural Mix Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations is one of the recent coping measures developed to overcome the weaknesses of existing coping scales. Since its development and validation, the inventory has been used by previous studies to measure coping among teachers and students in stressful situations. Health professionals are workers who typically encounter stressful situations due to their work demands. In this study, we assessed the validity and reliability of cultural mix inventory for stressful situations among healthcare professionals in Ghana. The research was guided by three major objectives: (1) to assess the factor structure of the cultural mix coping inventory, (2) to evaluate the construct validity and reliability of the cultural mix coping inventory based on internal structure and (3) to test for evidence of criterion validity based on the external structure of the measure. Approximately 312 health workers were purposefully sampled to participate in the study. The study confirmed the original four-factor solution of the coping inventory with evidence of the construct validity based on the internal structure. Validity evidence based on the external structure of the measure was found to be sufficient. Given the COVID-19 pandemic and coupled with the stressful nature in the line of duty of healthcare professionals, this inventory provides a useful and sound measure of coping options among this cohort.

Development and Validation of an Inventory for Stressful Situations in University Students Involving Coping Mechanisms: An Interesting Cultural Mix in Ghana

Cognitive and behavioural coping strategies are relevant approaches for individuals such as university students as they attempt to manage stressful situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic and other academic-related pursuits within their social milieu. Although several instruments have been developed to measure the coping situations of such individuals, few studies have developed students’ specific coping inventories, with none in the African context. Of the few that exist, a culturally dominant code such as religion has been ignored by many scholars in the development of coping measures. In this study, a cultural-mix coping inventory was developed and validated using university students in Ghana. Two distinct interrelated objectives were addressed. First, the structure of the coping inventory was identified through principal component analysis. Further confirmatory factor as well as reliability analyses were then performed to provide evidence of construct validity of the scale. The outcome of the study revealed a sixteen-item psychometrically sound coping inventory with a four-dimensional structure, namely, active coping, religious coping, behaviour disengagement, and emotional support. The implications of the results are further discussed in detail.

Relationship between cognitive behavioral variables and mental health status among university students: A meta-analysis

Cognitive behavioral therapy is an effective treatment for improving mental health problems among university students. However, intervention components have different effects on mental health problems. This paper is a meta-analysis of the data concerning the relationship between cognitive behavioral variables and mental health status among university students. A total of five electronic databases were reviewed, and 876 articles met the initial selection criteria. Reviewers applied standardized coding schemes to extract the correlational relationship between cognitive behavioral variables and mental health status. A total of 55 articles were included in the meta-analysis. Correlations were found for three cognitive behavioral variables (attention, thought, and behavior) across nine mental health domains (negative affect, positive affect, happiness, social function, stress response, psychological symptom, quality of life, well-being, and general health). Across each cognitive behavioral process and all mental health domains, the estimated mean correlation was medium (r = .32 - .46), and varied by the domain of mental health.

The Effects of Prayer as a Coping Strategy for Nurses

PURPOSE

To determine the effects of prayer as a coping strategy for nurses.

DESIGN

Quantitative descriptive design.

METHODS

The population was the 15,000 members of the American Society of Perianesthesia Nurses. Twelve hundred fifty nine subjects completed a demographic questionnaire and the Prayer Functions Scale. The surveys were available on SurveyMonkey.com for 2 weeks in the fall of 2014.

FINDINGS

Results indicated at α = 0.05 that the nurses surveyed experienced the effects of prayer, providing assistance, providing acceptance, providing calm, and deferring as benefits of use of prayer as a coping strategy.

CONCLUSIONS

Reduction of nurses' stress through prayer is one way to ameliorate the ill effects that can impact nurses through stress. Nursing administration, nursing organizations, and academics could consider use of prayer as an effective coping mechanism in teaching, studying, and exploration of methods to help nurses cope with the inherent stressors of their profession.

Immigration Stress among Recent Latino Immigrants: The Protective Role of Social Support and Religious Social Capital

Religious institutions can be a source of support for recent Latino immigrants struggling to adjust to a new culture. For undocumented immigrants, who are often marginalized from other formal institutions, they may symbolize a place of refuge and hope through supportive social networks that mitigate common challenges such as social isolation and other forms of immigration stress. This cross-sectional study examined the impact of religious social capital and social support on immigration stress among documented and undocumented recent Latino immigrants (N = 408). Religious social capital was associated with higher levels of social support, while social support was protective against immigration stress. Social support mediated associations between religious social capital and immigration stress, but only among undocumented immigrants. Findings suggest religious social capital may be a particularly useful resource for undocumented immigrants, aiding in the provision of social support and in decreasing levels of immigration stress. Future research directions and implications for culturally tailored service delivery are presented.

Religious education can contribute to adolescent mental health in school settings

Background

Mental disorders contribute substantial burden to the society due to their widespread occurrence and debilitating effects. A quarter of the world’s population are children and adolescents, a significant number of whom experience mental disorders as early as the age of 14. Some interventions have been found to effectively reduce the risk factors and reinforce protective or preventive factors. However, there is still a need to put emphasis on mental health promotion strategies such as religious education. This paper aims to discuss the importance of religious education in promoting mental health.

Discussion

Religious education can be instrumental to improving adolescent mental health. Specifically, it can: (1) help develop healthier reaction to stimuli through the internalization of religious morality; (2) reinforce religious coping mechanisms which reduce the impact of stresses, enhance coping skills, and promote a less risky lifestyle; (3) increase awareness regarding religious beliefs and practices and their influence on the individual, the family, and the community; and finally, (4) promote connectedness which can enhance self-esteem and well-being. However, negative health outcomes such as discrimination and social isolation can also develop, especially among religious or gender minority groups.

Conclusion

It is important to reflect on the crucial role of religious education on adolescent mental health. School-based mental health education and promotion strategies can maximize the benefits of religious education by putting emphasis on effective implementation of religious education to positively influence adolescent mental health.

Religious Coping, Family Support, and Negative Affect in College Students

To understand the influence that religion may have on mental health, the present study examined influences of religious coping and family support on anxiety and depression in 190 college students (women = 67.4%; M age = 21.7 yr., SD = 4.9). Subjects were recruited as volunteers from undergraduate psychology courses and completed the Ways of Religious Coping Scale, the General Functioning subscale of the Family Assessment Device, the Anxiety Scale of the Personality Assessment Inventory, and the Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition. Analyses indicated greater family support was significantly associated with less anxiety and depression, whereas religious coping was not significantly correlated with anxiety and depression. Overall findings suggest that family emotional support may provide a stronger source of support for college students than religious coping.

General and religious coping predict drinking outcomes for alcohol dependent adults in treatment

BACKGROUND

Religiosity is associated with improved treatment outcomes among adults with alcohol dependence; however, it is unknown whether religious coping predicts drinking outcomes above and beyond the effects of coping in general, and whether gender differences exist.

METHODS

We assessed 116 alcohol-dependent adults (53% women; mean age = 37, SD = 8.6) for use of religious coping, general coping, and alcohol use within 2 weeks of entering outpatient treatment, and again 6 months after treatment.

RESULTS

Religious coping at 6 months predicted fewer heavy alcohol use days and fewer drinks per day. This relationship was no longer significant after controlling for general coping at 6 months.

CONCLUSIONS

The relationship between the use of religious coping strategies and drinking outcomes is not independent of general coping. Coping skills training that includes religious coping skills, as one of several coping methods, may be useful for a subset of adults early in recovery.

SCIENTIFIC SIGNIFICANCE

This novel, prospective study assessed the relationship between religious coping strategies, general coping, and treatment outcomes for alcohol-dependent adults in treatment with results suggesting that the use of religious coping as one of several coping methods may be useful for a subset of adults early in recovery.

Improving Empathy in the Prevention of Sexual Abuse Against Children and Youngsters

The aim of this research is to study the improvement of empathy in child-care professionals (i.e., teachers, psychologists, social workers) involved in the prevention of sexual abuse against children and youngsters. An E-Learning training pilot program was conducted with pre- and post-measures (T(1) = at the beginning and T(2) = after 6 months) using the program's standardized questionnaires of Situational Empathy and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) as a Dispositional Empathy measure. A sample of 42 experienced professionals involved in activities with children and youngsters was obtained from the International Movement of Popular Education in Latin America called "Fe y Alegría." Significant progress was found in the scales of Situational Empathy and in some Coping subscales. The final outcomes seem to indicate that the prevention program elicits important changes in the cognitive sphere and that these changes are more intense when the implication level for the situation is greater. This research shows that empathy can be improved through professional experience and careful situational involvement.

The Influence of Religious Coping on the Acculturative Stress of Recent Latino Immigrants

Acculturative stress negatively impacts the physical and mental health of Latino immigrants. Little is known about the pre-immigration resources that may influence the acculturative stress of Latino immigrants. Religion plays a prominent role in Latino culture and may prove to be an influential resource during difficult life transitions, such as those experienced during the immigration process. The present study examines the association between religious coping resources prior to immigration and acculturative stress after immigration within a multiethnic sample of 527 adult Latinos who have lived in the United States for less than 1 year. Path analyses revealed that pre-immigration external religious coping was associated with high levels of post-immigration acculturative stress. Illegal immigrant status was associated with high levels of pre-immigration religious coping as well as post-immigration acculturative stress. These findings expand scientific understanding as to the function and effect of specific religious coping mechanisms among Latino immigrants. Furthermore, results underscore the need for future research, which could serve to inform culturally relevant prevention and treatment programs.

Religious Struggle and Religious Comfort in Response to Illness: Health Outcomes among Stem Cell Transplant Patients

Growing interest has focused on relationships between health and religious coping among cancer patients. However, little is known about the health correlates of negative or conflicted religious responses. The current study examined general religiousness and two modes of cancer-specific religious coping, drawing closer to faith (positive) and struggling with faith (negative), among 213 multiple myeloma patients evaluated at the same point in treatment, during their initial work-up for autologous stem cell transplantation. The outcomes assessed included standardized measures and clinician ratings of depression, general distress, physical functioning, mental health functioning, pain, and fatigue. Results indicated that, after adjusting for relevant control variables, negative religious coping was associated with significantly poorer functioning on all outcomes but one: depression, distress, mental health, pain, and fatigue. Neither general religiousness nor positive religious coping was significantly related to any of the outcomes measured. Results highlight the role of negative or ambivalent religious responses to illness.

Religious coping, drinking motivation, and sex

The relations for religious coping with types of drinking motivation were examined in 178 college students. Participants completed the Ways of Religious Coping Scale and the Drinking Motives Questionnaire. As expected, correlations suggested that amount of alcohol used as well as social and enhancement motives for using were negatively related to religious coping scores. These relations were more clearly evident among women than among men. Coping motivation for alcohol use and religious coping were not significantly correlated.

Congruence of counselor self-disclosure and perceived effectiveness

Sixty-seven college students rated a counselor on expertness, trustworthiness, and attractiveness based on reading 1 of 2 randomly assigned session transcripts. The desire to choose the depicted counselor was also measured. In both transcripts, the counselor self-disclosed his or her use of prayer. A single-client statement varied across the 2 transcripts such that one contained a congruent counselor self-disclosure (counselor disclosure after client disclosure) and the other included an incongruent self-disclosure (counselor disclosure without client disclosure). A potential covariate, religiosity, was examined but did not draw significant variance. Participants in the congruent group reported a more favorable total perception, a higher attractiveness perception, and a greater desire to choose the counselor than did participants in the incongruent group. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed.

The many methods of religious coping: development and initial validation of the RCOPE

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a new theoretically based measure that would assess the full range of religious coping methods, including potentially helpful and harmful religious expressions. The RCOPE was tested on a large sample of college students who were coping with a significant negative life event. Factor analysis of the RCOPE in the college sample yielded factors largely consistent with the conceptualization and construction of the subscales. Confirmatory factor analysis of the RCOPE in a large sample of hospitalized elderly patients was moderately supportive of the initial factor structure. Results of regression analyses showed that religious coping accounted for significant unique variance in measures of adjustment (stress-related growth, religious outcome, physical health, mental health, and emotional distress) after controlling for the effects of demographics and global religious measures (frequency of prayer, church attendance, and religious salience). Better adjustment was related to a number of coping methods, such as benevolent religious reappraisals, religious forgiveness/purification, and seeking religious support. Poorer adjustment was associated with reappraisals of God's powers, spiritual discontent, and punishing God reappraisals. The results suggest that the RCOPE may be useful to researchers and practitioners interested in a comprehensive assessment of religious coping and in a more complete integration of religious and spiritual dimensions in the process of counseling.

Predictors of outpatient medical appointment attendance among persons with HIV

Non-adherence to medical regimens is a critical threat to the health of HIV-infected individuals. Patients who do not adhere to routine medical care cannot fully benefit from the increasingly efficacious treatments available to them. Consistent attendance at medical appointments plays a central role in both prolonging life and enhancing quality of life for persons living with HIV/AIDS. By identifying why many patients do not reliably attend medical services, interventions can be undertaken to improve appointment-keeping. The primary purpose of the present study was to identify factors predictive of HIV-related medical appointment attendance. One-hundred-and-forty-four outpatients in a public hospital ambulatory care HIV clinic were followed for seven months. Demographic, medical care and psychosocial factors were measured in order to prospectively predict the percentage of missed clinic appointments by persons with HIV disease. Greater outpatient appointment non-attendance was associated with younger age, minority status, less severe illness and lower perceived social support. Treatment duration, provider consistency, hopelessness and religious coping did not emerge as significant predictors of outpatient appointment-keeping in this sample. Practical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed in light of recent medical advances in HIV/AIDS care.