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.
Pre-service teachers' spiritual well-being across time and faiths : Implications for religious education
- Authors: Fisher, John , Barnes, Philip , Marks, Genee
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Religious Education Journal of Australia Vol. 25, no. 2 (2009), p. 10-16
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- Description: Spiritual well-being (SWB) is reflected in the quality of relationships that people have in up to four areas, namely with themselves, with others, with the environment, and/or with God. A recent study has shown that the lived experiences of teachers have a major influence on their perceptions of help provided to nurture students' SWB in schools. Fischer's (1999) 20-item Spiritual Health and Life-Orientation Measure (SHALOM) elicited pre-service teachers' ideals for SWB, and their lived experiences in each of the four domains, as well as the level of help these pre-service teachers believe is provided to school students in these areas of their lives. Data were collected from 1361 pre-service teachers in public, secular and religious universities, and Christian universities in Australia and Northern Ireland in 2000 and 2007-08. Significant variations were found in levels of SWB by gender and university type and between pre-service teachers from one year to another. The pre-service teachers in these studies were not overly optimistic about the level of help provided to nurture school students' relationship with God. This finding has implications for religious education in schools, as well as discussions of the holistic development and well-being of students. [Author abstract]
- Description: 2003007943
Being human, becoming whole : Understanding spiritual health and well- being
- Authors: Fisher, John
- Date: 2000
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Christian Education Vol. 43, no. 3 (2000), p. 37-52
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- Description: This chapter discusses what spirituality is and its place in education. Topics discussed are interest in spirituality, the nature of spirituality, dimensions of health, spiritual health and well being, and a model of spiritual health. Spirituality is innate, emotive, subjective, dynamic and not religion. Spiritual health and well being are reflected in the quality of relationships in four domains of human existence - people with themselves, with others, with the environment, and with a transcendent other. The model embraces the divergence of world views, beliefs and lived experiences of humanity, as expressed in the knowledge and inspirational aspects of spiritual well being in each of the domains.