Spiritual Diversity in Personal Recovery from Mental Health Challenges: A Qualitative Study from Chinese-Australian Service Users’ Perspectives
Abstract
:1. Introduction
1.1. Spiritual Diversity in Australia
1.2. Mental Health Community Support Services (MHCSS)
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Design
2.2. Participants
2.3. Data Collection
2.4. Data Analysis
2.5. Ethical Considerations
2.6. Rigor
3. Results
3.1. Participants
3.2. Themes from the Interview Data
3.2.1. Understanding of Spirituality
3.2.2. Stories/Experiences about Integrating Spirituality into Life
3.2.3. Experiences with Formal Religions/Religious Groups
3.2.4. Views about Bringing Spiritual Beliefs into Mental Health Recovery
4. Discussion
4.1. Lessons from Participants
4.2. Spirituality in Recovery: Commonality and Individuality
4.3. Cultural Embeddedness of Spiritual Identity and Practice
4.4. Implications for Practice
4.5. Recommendations for Further Research
4.6. Strengths and Limitations
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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1. Understanding of Spirituality |
1.1. Concept of spirituality |
1.1.1. Life direction, guide, and support |
1.1.2. A sense of security |
1.1.3. Connection with God |
1.1.4. Connection with deceased loved ones |
1.2. Self-defined spiritual identity |
1.2.1. Strict Christian |
1.2.2. Christian but still exploring |
1.2.3. Connection with deceased loved ones (Spiritual but not Religious) |
2. Stories/experiences about integrating spirituality into life |
2.1. Reasons for becoming a spiritual believer |
2.1.1. The attraction of the spiritual traits of spiritual believers |
2.1.2. Helplessness or turning point in life |
2.1.3. Born in a traditional Christian family |
2.1.4. The impact of the values of the deceased loved ones |
2.2. Spiritual activities |
2.2.1. Individual activities |
2.2.1.1. Prayer |
2.2.1.2. Rituals |
2.2.1.3. Meditation |
2.2.1.4. Classic/piano music |
2.2.1.5. Engaging with nature |
2.2.2. Family activities |
2.2.2.1. Learning the Bible with a family member |
2.2.3. Group activities |
2.2.3.1. Group online learning |
2.2.3.2. Attending regular church |
3. Experiences with formal religions/religious groups |
3.1. Positive experiences |
3.1.1. Intangible support |
3.1.1.1. Financial support |
3.1.1.2. Interpersonal support |
3.1.2. Emotional support |
3.1.2.1. A sense of belonging |
3.1.2.2. Encouragement |
3.1.2.3. Trust |
3.1.3. Positive energy |
3.1.3.1. Bringing people together |
3.1.3.2. Spreading the belief of helping each other |
3.2. Negative experiences |
3.2.1. Conflicts with others of the religious community |
3.2.2. Feeling of exclusion from the religious community |
4. Views about bringing spiritual beliefs into mental health recovery |
4.1. Positive roles of spirituality in the recovery |
4.1.1. Coping |
4.1.2. Inner strength |
4.1.3. Positive self-transformation |
4.1.4. Positive life choice |
4.2. Preventing harmful behaviors and thoughts |
4.2.1. Suicide |
4.2.2. Self-harm behaviors and thoughts |
4.2.3. Revenge on others |
4.3. Spiritual struggles |
4.3.1. Spiritual conflict with family members |
4.3.2. Feeling stigma and discrimination from communities |
4.4. Service provision |
4.4.1. Talk about it |
4.4.1.1. One-to-one support from worker |
4.4.1.2. Workers from a similar cultural background |
4.4.1.3. Obstacles created by not speaking English |
4.4.2. Spiritual-based activities/groups |
4.4.2.1. Religious groups |
4.4.2.2. Activities that are more creative and less sociable |
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© 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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He, L.; Petrakis, M. Spiritual Diversity in Personal Recovery from Mental Health Challenges: A Qualitative Study from Chinese-Australian Service Users’ Perspectives. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20, 2210. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032210
He L, Petrakis M. Spiritual Diversity in Personal Recovery from Mental Health Challenges: A Qualitative Study from Chinese-Australian Service Users’ Perspectives. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2023; 20(3):2210. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032210
Chicago/Turabian StyleHe, Ling, and Melissa Petrakis. 2023. "Spiritual Diversity in Personal Recovery from Mental Health Challenges: A Qualitative Study from Chinese-Australian Service Users’ Perspectives" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 20, no. 3: 2210. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20032210