Premium
Enhancing spiritual well‐being among suicidal African American female survivors of intimate partner violence
Author(s) -
Arnette Natalie C.,
Mascaro Nathan,
Santana M. Carmen,
Davis Shane,
Kaslow Nadine J.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/jclp.20403
Subject(s) - spirituality , psychology , existentialism , coping (psychology) , psychological intervention , clinical psychology , well being , psychotherapist , psychiatry , medicine , alternative medicine , philosophy , epistemology , pathology
Spirituality has been identified as one component of a culturally competent therapeutic intervention for African American women. The present study was designed to investigate the ability of factors, such as level of hopelessness and the use of positive religious coping strategies, to predict spiritual well‐being over time. Seventy‐four low‐income African American women were administered self‐report questionnaires measuring hopelessness, use of religious coping strategies, and two domains of spiritual well‐being. Path analysis indicated that hopelessness, existential well‐being, religious well‐being, and positive religious coping are correlated with one another. Further, lower levels of hopelessness predict increases in existential well‐being over time; higher levels of positive religious coping predict increases in religious well‐being over time. Results were consistent with the study hypotheses and highlight the need to attend to predictors of spiritual well‐being when implementing culturally relevant interventions with abused, suicidal African American women. Therapeutic strategies for reducing hopelessness and enhancing positive religious coping to improve spiritual and existential well‐being are presented; such strategies will ensure the interventions are more culturally competent. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol 63: 909–924, 2007.