Children’s spirituality and inclusion: strengthening a child’s spirit with community,resilience and joy

The vision of inclusion speaks to the minds, hearts and spirits of children with disabilities. A meaningful inclusive atmosphere exists when children with and without disabilities are physically engaged and interact with one another as a community in a variety of activities. Spirituality for children with disabilities within an inclusive early childhood classroom requires an education that is intellectual, emotional, social, moral and spiritual. In this type of environment, children with disabilities and peers can flourish in a warm and welcoming community. This paper contributes to the literature and asserts the importance of the ‘forgotten’ dimension of early childhood special education. Learning strategies to inform teachers and parents for establishing an inclusive welcoming classroom for children with disabilities are offered by exploring a spiritual curriculum emphasising holistic education with peers through strengths-based projects, small group work and peer-mediated interventions for supporting the interests of each child and developing the capacity to develop resilience and joy.     

The relationship between spirituality and depressive symptom severity,psychosocial functioning impairment,and quality of life: examining the impact of age,gender, and ethnic differences

Research has documented the contribution of spirituality on overall health and mental health among college students. However, very few studies have explored the impact of cultural and ethnic differences on the effect of spirituality on mental health outcomes in this population. The aims of this study were to examine the relationships among spirituality, depressive symptom severity, psychosocial functioning impairment, and quality of life in a large multi-ethnic sample of college students and explore the impact of age, gender, and ethnicity on these relationships. The sample consisted of Latino, African-American, Caucasian, and Caribbean/West Indian college students. Findings indicated that spirituality, believing in God's presence, age, gender, and ethnicity were significantly related to depressive symptoms. These factors were also associated with impairment in psychosocial functioning and quality of life related to depression.     

The spirituality of people with late-stage dementia: a review of the research literature,a critical analysis and some implications for person-centred spirituality and dementia care

If spirituality is fundamental to personhood, it must be as integral to the life of a person with dementia as to any other person. In this paper, the author uses a three-stage process to explore the features, meanings and significance of spirituality in late-stage dementia. First, a critical literature review is undertaken to evaluate the present state of research and its methodological limitations. The second stage of the argument comprises a critical analysis of the available models of how spirituality may persist beyond the loss of cognitive and communicative capacity, leading the elucidation of two dimensions to spirituality (duration over time and the role of social space) that can sometimes be overlooked. Finally, these findings are brought to bear on wider questions of how person-centred spiritual care may be offered to people with dementia and the role of shared social values in building spiritual resilience.     

Poor,Rural Women: Spirituality,Religion, and Wellness Across the Life Span

Researchers have suggested strategies in the spiritual domain for improving wellness. This study explored relationships among spirituality, religiosity, and wellness for poor, rural women in early adulthood, early–middle adulthood, and middle–later adulthood. Implications for evidence‐based strategies to improve wellness for poor, rural women across the life span are provided.     

Generation to Generation: Passing on Religious and Spiritual Beliefs and Practices

Many families face difficulties in maintaining healthy relationships. Past research has identified that religious and/or spiritual beliefs and practices can enhance family well-being. Research has also shown that religious and/or beliefs and practices can shape the aging process. Yet there exists little information on the methods through which religious and/or spiritual beliefs are passed on to future generations. This study utilized Eriksonian conceptual ideas, and grounded theory methods to conduct interviews with 13 older adults on the process through which religious and/or spiritual beliefs are passed on to children and grandchildren. Ideas are discussed for practitioners based on study findings.     

Development and Evaluation of the Belief Acceptance Scale

The Belief Acceptance Scale (BAS) is a nine question scale that was developed to evaluate how open and accepting an individual is to other people’s beliefs across interdependent life domains. The purposes of this article are to demonstrate the internal consistency of the BAS and examine the instrument’s substructure and to correlate the BAS with validated measures of religiosity and demographic data gathered from a web-based Survey of Spiritual Experiences. The BAS focuses on cultural beliefs instead of religious motivations and was designed to be administered to religious and non-religious individuals. Three domains of belief acceptance were tested: the internal or subjective openness to other beliefs (Psychological Domain), willingness to participate in other ideologies and rituals (Reciprocal Domain), and the willingness to date or marry outside one’s belief system or cultural background (Social Domain). Responses from 350 individuals were correlated and analysed to estimate the scale’s internal consistency and subscale structure. Analyses support the validity of the BAS scores in that they demonstrate expected correlations with demographic data and standardised measures of religiosity. The results show that the BAS is an internally consistent scale with a coherent substructure that adequately measures openness to other beliefs, ideologies and belief systems.     

Fifty Shades of Grace: The Crafting of Sexual Wisdom

Abstract

Each of us has lived sexual experience that gives us embodied knowledge. This embodied knowledge is a primary source for the creation of practical sexual wisdom. We learn by doing, bumping up against others and mining the consequences to create a personal ethic. Grace accompanies us along the way. In this article a model of sexual-spiritual integration is proposed in which embodied knowledge is in critical-liminal conversation with other sources of knowledge to create practical sexual wisdom in a poetic and phronetic process. Such integration is an example of the moral creativity of the human being and derives from the function of sexuality in the person, the story-telling tendency of the brain to create identity, and the narrative intelligibility of human life. Implications for theological education (providing safe space, information, and invitations to critical and liminal reflection) are briefly discussed before particular graces (desire, vulnerability, honesty and wrestling) are explored and illustrated by stories and poems.     

Digital power: exploring the effects of social media on children’s spirituality

Digital culture is a prominent factor in the formation of children’s identity and relational experiences, with high percentages of children in many countries participating in gaming and social networking activities. Yet little scholarly work has addressed the ways in which various patterns of engagement in digital culture call into question current assumptions about childhood identity formation and relationality and the repercussions of formational and relational shifts on children’s spirituality. This essay explores ways in which digital culture functions as a spiritually enriching force in children’s lives, paying particular attention to the potential value of social networking for children’s spiritual well-being and the ways in which the internet’s positive aspects may mask other, more corrosive, elements.     

Thematic Analysis of the Intersection of Spirituality and Eating Disorder Symptoms

The authors interviewed 12 female participants about the intersection of their spiritual beliefs and eating disorder symptoms. Three main themes emerged from the data: (a) spiritual beliefs as helpful, (b) choice not to ask for spiritual help, and (c) guilt.     

Religio‐Spiritual Participation in Two American Indian Populations

Following a previous investigation of religio‐spiritual beliefs in American Indians, this article examined prevalence and correlates of religio‐spiritual participation in two tribes in the Southwest and Northern Plains (N = 3,084). Analysis suggested a “religious profile” characterized by strong participation across three traditions: aboriginal, Christian, and Native American Church. However, sociodemographic variables that have reliably predicted participation in the general American population, notably gender and age, frequently failed to achieve significance in multivariate analyses for each tradition. Religio‐spiritual participation was strongly and significantly related to belief salience for all traditions. Findings suggest that correlates of religious participation may be unique among American Indians, consistent with their distinctive religious profile. Results promise to inform researchers’ efforts to understand and theorize about religio‐spiritual behavior. They also provide tribal communities with practical information that might assist them in harnessing social networks to confront collective challenges through community‐based participatory research collaborations.