Digital Commons Network^™

The Santa Clara Strength Of Religious Faith Questionnaire: Assessing Faith Engagement In A Brief And Nondenominational Manner, Thomas G. Plante

Psychology

The Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire is a brief (10-item, or five-item short form version), reliable and valid self report measure assessing strength of religious faith and engagement suitable for use with multiple religious traditions, denominations, and perspectives. It has been used in medical, student, psychiatric, substance abuse, and among general populations nationally and internationally and among multiple cultures and languages. Brief non denominational self report measures of religious and faith engagement that have demonstrated reliability and validity are not common but can have potential for general utility in both clinical and research settings. This article provides an …

Governance And Hiv Prevalence In African Countries, Lod C. Hambanou

Public Health Theses

Previous studies based on data from the World Bank have shown a negative association between governance and HIV prevalence. Using the Index of African Governance, this study investigates the correlation between governance and HIV prevalence in all African countries (N = 53) in order to determine which dimension of governance is more predictive of this relationship. No statistically significant association was found between governance and HIV prevalence across the whole spectrum of countries. In the multivariate analysis, the most predictive dimension of governance, “Rule of Law, Transparency and Corruption” was found to be positively associated with HIV prevalence across all …

Quality Of Life, Religious/Spiritual Coping, Demoralization And Depression In Heart Failure Patients, Terry Larsen Phd, Rn, Cns

Dissertations

Background: Research suggests that the heart failure (HF) population is particularly vulnerable to depression. Other factors may also affect quality of life such as religious/spiritual coping, and demoralization. Purpose: The purpose of this descriptive correlational study was to examine factors that predict health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in adults with heart failure. Specific Aims: (1) to examine level of religious/spiritual coping, spiritual distress, demoralization, depression and HRQoL among adults with heart failure; (2) to examine the relationships of religious/spiritual coping, spiritual distress demoralization, depression and selected demographic variables (age, gender, race/ethnicity and length of living with HF) with HRQoL. Methods: …

Book Review: "Human Dignity And Bioethics: Essays Commissioned By The President's Council On Bioethics, Leslie Meltzer Henry

Leslie Meltzer Henry

The President’s Council on Bioethics frequently invokes -- but never defines -- the notion of human dignity in its reports on caregiving, stem-cell research, cloning, assisted reproduction, and biomedical enhancement. This article argues that the Council employs the language of dignity so loosely in its policy recommendations that the word is often nothing more than a rhetorical trump card to reject policies at odds with the Bush administration’s perspective. This article examines how the Council uses the word dignity; explores competing philosophical, theological, and political understandings of the word; and suggests ways in which a more productive dialogue about dignity's …

Predicting Adolescent Risk-Taking And Goal-Oriented Behaviors: An Ecological Perspective, Joshua Jon Tynan

Wayne State University Dissertations

An important aspect of human development is adolescence. It has been well documented that adolescence is a time during which individuals partake in the greatest amount of risk-taking behaviors. These behaviors often include having unsafe sex, drug and alcohol use, smoking and recklessness. On the other hand, goal oriented behaviors are also developing, although these have been less well studied. The current study explored several key contexts that adolescents are concurrently exposed to, including parenting behaviors, peer relationships, religion, and media. The outcomes of interest were risk-taking behaviors and goal-oriented behaviors. Ultimately the purpose of this study was to compile, …

The Influence Of Religion And Spirituality On Rehabilitation Outcomes Among Traumatic Brain Injury Survivors, Brigid Waldron-Perrine

Wayne State University Dissertations

The long-term consequences of traumatic brain injury affect millions of Americans, many of whom report using religion and spirituality to cope. Little research, however, has investigated how various elements of the religious and spiritual belief systems affect rehabilitation outcomes. The present study sought to assess the use of specifically defined elements of religion and spirituality as coping resources in a sample of traumatically brain injured adults. Furthermore, various mechanisms by which religion and spirituality may affect outcome were explored.

The sample included 88 adults with brain injury from 1 to 20 years post injury and their knowledgeable significant others (SOs). …

Psychological Care For Persons Of Diverse Religions: A Collaborative Continuum, Glen Milstein, Anne Marie Yali

Publications and Research

The purpose of this paper is to describe to psychologists and other clinicians a continuum of mental health care for persons of diverse religions. The continuum delineates boundaries between clinical care provided by mental health professionals and religious care provided by clergy, as well as describes pathways of collaboration across these boundaries. A prevention science based model of Clergy Outreach and Professional Engagement (COPE) is offered to guide this collaboration. The model describes a continuum that moves from the care already present in religious communities, through professional clinical care provided in response to dysfunction and returns persons to their own …