Eun-Kyoung Othelia Lee

The Impact of Religiousness, Spirituality, and Social Support on Psychological Well-Being Among Older Adults in Rural Areas

Summary This paper presents the results of a study on the impact of spirituality, religiousness, and social support on the psychological well-being among rural elderly. With a rural community sample of 215 older adults, hierarchical regression analyses found significant associations between dimensions of spirituality/religiousness, social support, and psychological well-being, with spirituality/religiousness inversely related to depression and social support, positively related to life satisfaction. Findings of this study suggest that practitioners need to develop programs or services that are congruent with religious/spiritual beliefs and practices in order to better enhance the psychosocial well-being and improve the quality of life among older persons in rural areas.

Religion and Spirituality as Predictors of Well-Being Among Chinese American and Korean American Older Adults

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to understand the multidimensional aspects of religion, spirituality, and well-being among Asian American older adults with a primary focus on examining how much the effect of religion and spirituality can account for subjective well-being. Respondents were 145 older adults (76 Chinese and 69 Koreans). In an attempt to measure a broad range of religion and spirituality, the Multidimensional Measures of Religiousness and Spirituality (MMRS; NIA/Fetzer, 1999) were used. Utilization of religious coping skills was associated with greater life satisfaction. Greater practice of forgiveness contributed to improving life satisfaction and self-efficacy for older Korean and Chinese Americans. Religious support was associated with decreased depression and increased life satisfaction. In contrast, less private religious practice enhanced greater self-efficacy. Implications for practice and research are discussed.

Religiousness/spirituality and subjective well-being among rural elderly whites, African Americans, and native Americans

SUMMARY Little attention has been paid to subjective well-being among non-White elderly in rural areas where medical resources and financial support are deficient. The present study assessed a rural community sample of 215 elderly comprising 85 Caucasians, 75 African Americans, and 55 Native Americans, to examine roles of spirituality/religiousness on their subjective well-being. This study found ethnic differences in the reliance on religiosity/spirituality and a significant association between dimensions of religiousness/spirituality and subjective well-being among all ethnic rural elderly groups. The results of the study suggest that health providers, social workers, and faith communities need to provide rural elderly with religious and spiritual support in order to enhance their life satisfaction and lessen their emotional distress.

Caregiver Burden and Social Support among Mothers Raising Children with Developmental Disabilities in South Korea

This study examines caregiver burden and social supports perceived by mothers raising children with developmental disabilities in South Korea. Mothers residing in the metropolitan areas of Seoul (n = 181) responded to the mail survey with a 56.6% response rate. Respondents expressed a high level of overall burden, particularly in financial domains. Greater subjective caregiver burden for these mothers was associated with: increased disability‐related costs; maternal factors such as being younger and having higher educational attainment; and less social support. Extra cost related to disabilities was the strongest predictor of increased caregiver burden. Findings indicate that social support can reduce this burden. Implications for the practices of social service agencies and policy are discussed.

Mind—Body—Spirit Practice and Perceived Self-Efficacy for Mental Health Promotion: An Exploratory Study

An increasing number of adults are exploring community-based alternative and complementary health care as a method for stress reduction and health promotion. This study explores the multidimensional impact of mind—body—spirit (MBS) practice on psychological wellbeing (mind), health (body), and spirituality and altruistic behaviors (spirit). It describes the benefits and challenges of holistic MBS practices and presents MBS as a possible intervention. The studys respondents included 357 adults who regularly practiced MBS techniques of yoga, meditation, and tai chi. Hierarchical regression analysis was performed to determine the relative importance of three categories of predictors (demographics, MBS practice, self-efficacy) on outcome variables (health status, depression, life satisfaction, spiritual experiences, and altruistic behaviors). The findings of this study suggest that MBS practice variables can influence certain dimensions of health status. In particular, perceived MBS self-efficacy became the consistently significant predictor of all health domains – physical, psychological, and spiritual. Implications for practice and research are discussed.