Investigating spiritual well-being among Islamic Divinity and religious education students in Turkey
- Authors: Coskun, Mehmet , Fisher, John
- Date: 2013
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Religious Education Journal of Australia Vol. 29, no. 2 (2013), p. 21-28
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- Description: In light of increased emphasis on universities being called to facilitate spiritual growth among students, the Spiritual Health And Life-Orientation Measure was used to assess four domains of spiritual well-being among 122 Divinity and 137 Religious Education students in Turkey. Students provided three responses to 20 items reflecting spiritual well-being, indicating their ideals for spiritual well-being, lived experience and how much university helped in each area. Another 16 potential factors were explored to help students develop their spiritual well-being, ranging from self-improvement to scripture. High scores on ideals for spiritual well-being, reported by both groups of students, underpin the lived experiences of Religious Education and Divinity students in each of four domains of spiritual well-being. Relating with God significantly influenced aspects of spiritual well-being but it appears that the highly religious students overstate the influence of religious activities, such as prayer and scripture, on their spiritual well-being. Universities provide small yet significant support in developing the four domains of spiritual well-being for these students. Overall, this study has shown many similarities, yet some significant variations in spiritual well-being between these Divinity and Religious Education students in Turkey. This project provides a sound base from which future studies can be launched to review, enhance and monitor university students' spiritual well-being and to determine the influence of these students' spiritual well-being on the clients they will serve after graduating and gaining employment.
Development and application of a spiritual well-being questionnaire called SHALOM
- Authors: Fisher, John
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Religions Vol. 1, no.1, p.105-121
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- Description: The Four Domains Model of Spiritual Health and Well-Being was used as the theoretical base for the development of several spiritual well-being questionnaires, with progressive fine-tuning leading to the Spiritual Health And Life-Orientation Measure (SHALOM). SHALOM comprises 20 items with five items reflecting the quality of relationships of each person with themselves, other people, the environment and/or God, in the Personal, Communal, Environmental and Transcendental domains of spiritual well-being. SHALOM has undergone rigorous statistical testing in several languages. SHALOM has been used with school and university students, teachers, nurses, medical doctors, church-attenders, in industry and business settings, with abused women, troubled youth and alcoholics. SHALOM provides a unique way of assessing spiritual well-being as it compares each person’s ideals with their lived experiences, providing a measure of spiritual harmony or dissonance in each of the four domains.