Education Commons^™

Optimism And Spirituality On Burnout In Educators, Mackenzie Coats

Honors Program Projects

Burnout in educators can be attributed to high stress, increased demands, and a lack of resources, leading to high levels of turnover. Personal resources, such as optimism and spirituality, have been shown to individually have a negative correlation with burnout but have not been evaluated jointly to predict burnout in an educational setting. This research determines the relative contribution of optimism and spirituality to the three facets of burnout: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment. An electronic survey consisting of the Maslach Burnout Inventory, the Life Orientation Test-Revised, and the Spirituality at Work Scale was completed by educators of …

The Impact Of Christian Education On Undergraduate Nursing Students’ Levels Of Spirituality And Resiliency, Lynette Rae Fair

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Nursing education must focus on preparing nursing students to be adaptable and resilient in the face of changing circumstances. The problem is there is a lack of research studies focused on evaluating the effect of a Christian college/education setting on nursing students’ level of spirituality and resilience. The purpose of this quantitative comparative study was to examine the differences between Christian and non-faith-based pre-licensure baccalaureate nursing education programs for spirituality and resiliency. This descriptive, non-experimental, cross-sectional comparative study utilized two key self-report instruments: the Assessment of Spirituality and Religious Sentiments (ASPIRES) and the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC). Data collection occurred …

Religion/Spirituality, Stress, And Resilience Among Sexual And Gender Minorities: The Religious/Spiritual Stress And Resilience Model, G. Tyler Lefevor, Chana Etengoff, Edward B. Davis, Samuel J. Skidmore, Eric M. Rodriguez, James S. Mcgraw, Sharon S. Rostosky

Psychology Faculty Publications

Although many sexual and gender minorities (SGMs) consider themselves religious or spiritual, the impact of this religiousness or spirituality (RS) on their health is poorly understood. We introduce the religious/spiritual stress and resilience model (RSSR) to provide a robust framework for understanding the variegated ways that RS influences the health of SGMs. The RSSR bridges existing theorizing on minority stress, structural stigma, and RS-health pathways to articulate the circumstances under which SGMs likely experience RS as health promoting or health damaging. The RSSR makes five key propositions: (a) Minority stress and resilience processes influence health; (b) RS influences general resilience …

A Transcendental Phenomenological Investigation Of Perceived Spirituality And Persistence Of Jamaican Women Who Have Received A Tertiary Degree, Ashleigh Jacqueline Yearde

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to discover the perceived spirituality and persistence for Jamaican women who had received a tertiary degree at schools in Jamaica. At this stage in the research, a tertiary degree was generally defined as all formal post-secondary education, including public and private universities, colleges, technical training institutes, and vocational schools. The theory guiding this research was Lev Vygotsky’s social constructivist theory. Constructivists believe that knowledge was informed by perspective and shaped by values. The theoretical framework for the study was based on the positive foundation of social support in the learning process. Moustakas’s …

More Than Mindfulness: The Effectiveness Of An Ecospiritual Fellowship In Building Connection, Promoting Wellness, And Transforming The Ecological Worldviews Of Teachers, Medora West Willmore

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Action towards planetary well-being requires more than environmental awareness, acquisition of knowledge, or technological fixes; it necessitates a sacred connection, recognizing interdependence, and an ethic that maintains dignity for all non-human beings. It requires a shift in our ecological consciousness from the dominator and exploitative (I-it) view to the connected and participatory (I-thou) view which is best facilitated by an emerging paradigm called ecospirituality. For the next generation to adopt this paradigm, teachers must first adopt it. The research goal was to to transform teachers’ relationship with the natural world by enlisting ecospirituality as central in supporting teacher wellness, as …

A Phenomenological Study Of African-American Students' Spiritual And Identity Development At Predominantly White Institutions, Jeffery Clayton Smith Ii

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study is to document the lived experiences of African American (AA) students attending predominantly White institutions (PWI’s). The importance of capturing these experiences is to better understand how PWIs are properly equipped to serve the needs of their AA students. This study describe how AA students are experiencing spiritual and identity development while they are enrolled at a PWI. The two guiding theories of this study are Fowler’s Faith Development Theory and Erikson’s Identity Development Theory. These guiding theories have been paired together to address students’ spiritual development during their emerging adulthood years. The …

Philosophy For Children As A Form Of Spiritual Education, Olivier Michaud, Maughn Rollins Gregory

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

In the last two decades, some authors in the philosophy for children movement have theorized that the community of philosophical inquiry can be a form of spiritual practice, of the care of the self, or a wisdom practice (De Marzio, 2009; Gregory, 2009, 2013, 2014;Gregory & Laverty, 2009). Yet, it is unclear if philosophy for children is, by itself, a form of spiritual education, or if it requires some sorts of modification to be one. And, if it is or can be a form of spiritual education, we can interrogate in what ways and to what extent is it one. …

The Relationship Between Job Satisfaction And Religiosity In Evangelical Christian Schools, Jairon Gabriel Jarrin

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this non-experimental predictive-correlational study was to examine the relationship between job satisfaction and religiosity among teachers working in evangelical Christian schools. This study was grounded in two theories: Herzberg's two-factor theory of motivation and spiritual leadership theory. Herzberg's theory of motivation helps explain how teachers become satisfied or dissatisfied by distinguishing between motivational and hygiene factors. Spiritual leadership theory helps understand the importance of spirituality in the workplace and its relation to Christian religiosity in the workplace. This study is important because it added to the discussion about evangelical Christian schools that is very limited in the …

African American Spirituality, Marital Satisfaction, And Internalized Racial Oppression, Tiara Monique Mcintosh

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Internalized racism was the topic of the current study. The emphasis of this study was on how African Americans deal with cultural racism and how it impacts their daily lives. One example of early internalized racism is Black teenage girls' dissatisfaction with their skin tones (Pyke, 2010). Internalized racial prejudice manifests itself in the adoption of American ideals of beauty, the devaluation of one's community, and the adoption of unhealthy habits (Campon & Carter, 2015). African Americans are a mixed group of people of many different backgrounds. The historical and contemporary links that link African countries American couples include marital …

A Journey To Finding Space In The Tension: Experience Of Instructors' Relationship With Religion And Spirituality In Doctoral Psychology Programs, Samantha Mcgee

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Religion and spirituality, when viewed through a holistic lens, can reflect important aspects of a person’s identity. It can be a source of well-being and also struggle. The fields of religion, spirituality and psychology have had a history of being polarized, with some efforts to integrate the two fields. Tensions exist at multiple ecological levels around the topic of religion and spirituality, which can make it easier to avoid discussing it in classrooms and therapy rooms. It is important to address and create room for discussion of experiences around religion and spirituality in classrooms that are training psychologists so they …

All God's Children: An Exploratory Study Of Factors To Promote Inclusion Of Autistic Children Within Local Church Congregations, David John Scott Quel

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the gap that exists within the literature concerning the parent’s perspective for incorporating Autistic individuals into the life of the church. The theory guiding this study is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. In Maslow’s hierarchy, there are five level of needs. These areas are physical needs, security needs, love and belonging, esteem needs and self-actualization. These are the most basic needs whether someone is disabled, has special needs, or has no problems at all. The problem remains, far too often, those individuals who are on the Autistic spectrum are looked at as …

The T.I.T.U.S. Project: Implications Of A Catholic Spiritual And Faith Formation Programme On The Teaching Of Classroom Religious Education In Australia, Christine Robinson, Jessica Fic

Education Papers and Journal Articles

This paper presents findings emanating from a larger investigation. In essence, this qualitative project sought to uncover the ways in which early childhood Religious Education (RE) teachers’ experience of a formation-based program, known as The T.I.T.U.S Project (Testament In Teachers Using Scripture), transformed their own religious literacy and subsequently, their teaching of RE; it is these findings that form the focus of this paper. Religious literacy is explained as consisting of more than content, to include the complex relationship of content with both context and learner. It is in this nexus between content, context and learner that The T.I.T.U.S Project …

A Spiritual Vision For Catholic Educator Prep In A Time Of Disruption: A Reflective Essay, Angela T. Moret, Ronald R. O'Dwyer S.J.

COVID-19 and Catholic Schools

This essay reflects on the spiritual lessons learned as a Catholic graduate-level teacher prep program guided novice teachers through the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic. We observed the importance of articulating a clear spiritual vision rooted in scripture, history, and personal experience. The guiding spiritual lens has been the Emmaus story which helps us look to the past and to the future as we form and support early-career educators in Catholic schools.

A Review Of Spiritual Development And Transformation Among College Students From Jesuit Higher Education, Thomas G. Plante

Psychology

The college experience can be a critically important and enriching time for personal as well as academic growth and development. For many students, college is their first foray into a more independent world and lifestyle no longer under the careful, and sometimes critical, eyes of their parents, families, and schoolteachers. When students go far away from home to attend college, they need to find ways to live independently, manage their many needs, and attend to the rigors of academic life in higher education. Additionally, the college years offer a unique and important period for spiritual growth, development, and transformation. The …

Tracing The Landscape: Re-Enchantment, Play, And Spirituality In Parkour, Brett D. Potter

Publications and Scholarship

Parkour, along with “free-running”, is a relatively new but increasingly ubiquitous sport with possibilities for new configurations of ecology and spirituality in global urban contexts. Parkour differs significantly from traditional sports in its use of existing urban topography including walls, fences, and rooftops as an obstacle course/playground to be creatively navigated. Both parkour and “free-running”, in their haptic, intuitive exploration of the environment retrieve an enchanted notion of place with analogues in the religious language of pilgrimage. The parkour practitioner or traceur/traceuse exemplifies what Michael Atkinson terms “human reclamation”—a reclaiming of the body in space, and of the urban environment …

Analyzing Millennial Student Perceptions Of Spiritual Development While Attending Religious Colleges In The United States, Gregory Thomas Adams

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to measure the perceived degree of spiritual development of graduating seniors at 26 denominational religious colleges and universities in the United States to analyze the possible effects of secularization on religious colleges. The study focused on the Millennial religious college student and suggests an approach towards improving the academic environment at religious colleges to promote a positive atmosphere for improving spiritual development. A question on the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) was analyzed over an eight-year period to determine student and denominational college trends. The researcher determined the degree of perceived spiritual growth …

Life Interrupted: An Autoethnographic Exploration Of Doctoral Persistence With A Diagnosis Of Cancer, Daryl R. Worley

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this autoethnography research study was to describe the lived experience of coping with a diagnosis of cancer at the point of dissertation, while persisting in a doctoral program. This inquiry used an autoethnographic approach to examine the factors that lead to successful completion of a doctoral degree after the devastating diagnosis of cancer. The findings indicated a strong relationship to spiritual faith as a basis for resilience and persistence.

Congregational Honors: A Model For Inclusive Excellence, Naomi Yavneh Klos

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

This essay proposes a conception of honors programs and colleges as sacred communities that acknowledge and embrace the unique human dignity of each of their members. Drawing on Ron Wolfson’s congregational model articulated in Relational Judaism, McMillan and Chavis’s definition of “sense of community,” and the pedagogy of educators such as Paolo Freire and bell hooks, I argue that to create a true culture of inclusive excellence, an honors program or college should not be constructed as a checklist of “exceptional experiences for exceptional students” but rather as a “community of relationships.” Leading with a student-centered, holistic focus that …

How Christian School Leadership Practices Impact The Creation Of A School Environment Where Spiritual Nurture Can Occur In Students: A Phenomenological Investigation, Deborah Hollis

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand how Christian school leader practices impact the creation of a school environment where spiritual nurture can occur in students. Through criteria sampling from an open web search of ACSI Christian schools in Pennsylvania, selected participants were elementary and upper school principals, an assistant administrator, heads of school, and an assistant head of school. As one of the largest Christian education associations rooted in a biblical worldview, ACSI has developed the Christian School Leadership Framework (CSLF) which describes important competencies and behaviors for administrators and/or leaders of Christian schools. The theoretical framework …

“Do This In Memory Of Me”: Examining Catholic Subjectivity And Teacher Education, Seungho Moon, Ann Marie Ryan, Terri Pigott

Education: School of Education Faculty Publications and Other Works

This paper is about Catholic subjectivity and teacher education. We explore multiple notions of Catholic subjectivity drawing from their Korean, Irish American, and Filipino-Polish heritages. Lived religion and memory writing are conceptual and methodological foundations of this paper. We examine multiple meanings of Catholic subjectivity via self-reflexive investigations on self, others, and the community in diverse sociocultural contexts. We argue that attention to teacher subjectivity with spirituality is deeply aligned with promoting the public good, such as advancing diversity and social justice issues in teacher education.

Students' Spiritual Integration Into Bible Colleges: A Grounded Theory Study, Brett Blount

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this grounded theory study was to explain how undergraduate students integrate spiritually into Bible colleges in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States and discern the role spiritual integration plays in persistence. Spiritual integration of Bible college undergraduate students occurs when they perceive that their spirituality, whether possessed by them upon their enrollment and/or formed during their attendance, has aligned with the spiritual environment of their college and therefore have accepted their place in that environment. A total of 35 participants, 28 students and seven faculty members, were interviewed to obtain their perceptions of how students experience the …

A Phenomenological Study Of The Impact Of High School Student Spirituality On Transition Decision Making, Sandra Brady

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to understand the impact of a student’s spirituality on the decisions he or she makes during transition. For this study, transition will be defined as the process of moving from high school to post-secondary education and employment. Spirituality will be defined as moments of transcendence that can often provide clarity and guidance (Maslow, 1976). The process of transition can be both stressful and exciting. While supports and preparation can make an impact, it is possible that the student’s spiritual beliefs are a significant factor in the decisions that are made. The following research …

Sr. Holy: A Calling From The Lord, Caitlyn Schaffer

Ask a Sister: Interview Wisdom from Catholic Women Religious

This paper includes a portion of an interview with Sr. Holy, a woman religious missionary who belongs to the congregation of Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters, where her theological beliefs are enacted by her service to others. Within the congregation of Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters, she is focused on directing the novitiate, giving spiritual direction, volunteering with the aid for women, networking with the aid for women, and taking part in a life learning center making disciples. She uses her gifts that Jesus has given her to employ her virtues in the service of others. Throughout her life she mentioned the …

An Exploration Of The Role Of Religion And Spirituality In The Treatment And Recovery Of Patients With Eating Disorders, P. Scott Richards, Michael E. Berrett, Carrie L. Caoili, Sabree A. Crowton, Randy K. Hardman, Russell N. Jackson, Peter W. Sanders

Faculty Publications

This article reports two qualitative studies that explored how religion and spirituality (R/S) influenced the treatment and recovery process of patients with eating disorder. In Study 1 and Study 2, a total of 83 women who had successfully completed treatment at an inpatient eating disorder treatment center responded to open-ended survey questions about the role of R/S in their recovery. Twelve of the women in Study 2 participated in follow-up phone interviews. Qualitative analysis of survey responses and interview transcripts indicated that although many women believed R/S contributed to the development and maintenance of their eating disorder, most of them …

Session 17: Developing Spirituality, Sandy Murphy

Gateway's Pilot Year

This session will help students to explore their perspective on spirituality and religion. Students will have a chance via video to hear from various faculty, staff and students their perspective on these subjects. There will also be a chance for students to share in small group. We will also explore different modes of contemplation, using the Tree of Contemplation, and share ways that they can explore their spiritual life here on campus.

Searching For The Divine: An Autoethnographic Account Of Religious/Spiritual And Academic Influences On The Journey To Professor, E. James Baesler

Communication & Theatre Arts Faculty Publications

This autoethnographic account chronicles my academic and religious/spiritual path to becoming a professor of Communication. Spiritual influences and significant life events related to prayer, education, teaching, and research serve as sign posts marking the way. The journey begins with a child scientist experimenting with life—and an adolescent discovering the joy of reading through an illness. The journey continues with a crisis in undergraduate years followed by indoctrination stories of graduate school. Securing and retaining an academic position in Communication reveals the complexities of negotiating research and teaching in higher education. After tenure and promotion, a concurrent spiritual awakening begins a …

Listening To The Divine Song Within The Greater Song Of Life, E. James Baesler

Communication & Theatre Arts Faculty Publications

[First section]

Why I Teach Listening to the Divine Song

This autoethnography narrates how I came to teach listening to the divine song as part of an undergraduate listening course called Listening to the SONG of Life.¹ Before I describe two personal stories that explain why I teach listening to the divine, a brief introduction to my interpretation of the autoethnographic method is in order.

Autoethnography, as used in this story, is grounded in the assumptions that language is a primary medium by which we are conscious, understand the world, and communicate our learnings to others in stories,^{2 …}

College-Bound Students: A Study Of The Relationship Between Religiosity/Spirituality, And Achievement, William Wright

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The achievement gap between private and public school college-bound students has continued to widen each year since 1972. The researcher studied the relationship of Christian school college-bound students’ religiosity/spirituality using a validated survey instrument and their achievement as measured on the Scholastic Aptitude Test. The literature implies a relationship, but there is a gap in studying homogeneous religious groups. Therefore, the researcher selected a homogeneous grouping, Texas Christian high school college-bound seniors, as the sample for this study. The researcher obtained permission to use the Religiosity and Spirituality Scale for Youth (RASSY) survey instrument and included demographic and score data …

Processes And Outcomes Of Theistic Spiritually Oriented Psychotherapy: A Practice-Based Evidence Investigation, Peter W. Sanders, P. Scott Richards, Jason A. Mcbride, Troy Lea, Randy K. Hardman, Daniel V. Barnes

Faculty Publications

Various approaches for incorporating spirituality into psychotherapy have been devel- oped, but few have been submitted to empirical scrutiny. The present article reports the results of a practice-based evidence (PBE) study, and demonstrates the value of PBE as a research strategy for the empirical evaluation of spiritually oriented psychothera- pies (SOPs). This approach involves examining the effectiveness of SOPs in routine settings, providing more externally valid results than randomized controlled trials. Outcome and process data for 304 clients at a private, religious, university counseling center were examined using a PBE methodology. Clinicians integrated a wide variety of spiritual interventions with …

Faculty Perspectives On The Inclusion Of Spirituality Topics In Nonsectarian Leadership And Management Education Programs, Peter E. Williams, Stuart Allen

School of Educational Leadership

The purpose of this study was to explore faculty views on the inclusion of spiritual topics in graduate leadership and management programs, focusing on faculty experiences, perceived benefits and challenges, and teaching methods and principles in use. We interviewed twelve faculty members in leadership or management programs from eleven nonsectarian universities. Participants discussed eight benefits including the opportunity for whole person growth and skill development that would benefit leaders in a global workplace. Eight barriers to such inclusion were identified such as proselytizing and the misuse of power. The sampled instructors also made some suggestions for how to include spirituality …