Date of Award
Winter 2024
Degree Type
Thesis - Open Access
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
First Advisor
Joseph Kelley, PhD., D.Min.
Abstract
Purpose: This project sought to explore any difference in spirituality between adolescents with and without chronic illness. Assessment tools were reviewed for appropriateness for this population.
Methods: A literature review was conducted, followed by novel research. 10 adolescents were interviewed, using a mixed-methods approach. The quantitative results were analyzed using T-test and MANOVA. The qualitative results were analyzed to find themes and patterns.
Findings: Those with chronic illness and/or mental illness were more likely to have a broader, non-traditional view of religion than their healthy peers. Otherwise, no differences were found between the spirituality of adolescents with and without chronic illness. Scores for those with mental illness as well as identifiers of Spiritual, Religious, Both, or Neither were assessed. Six themes were identified across the subjects. The subjects found both the FACIT-Sp-12 / FACIT-Sp-NI and the Clayton-Jones Spiritual Development Framework assessment (CJ-SDF) to be understandable and good measures of their spirituality.
Discussion: The potential impact of the experience of illness on spirituality was explored. The potential impact of religious attitudes on people with chronic illness was explored. A suggested intervention to decrease negative religious coping and increase positive religious coping in those with illness backgrounds was described and encouraged.
Conclusion: Our hypothesis, that there is a difference between the spirituality of adolescents with chronic illness and that of adolescents without chronic illness, was mostly refuted. In contrast, our hypothesis that the assessment tools used here (FACIT-Sp-12 / FACIT-Sp-NI and CJ-SDF) were appropriate for this population was proven to be accurate. Those who were most unhealthy were most likely to have a non-traditional view of religion.
Recommended Citation
Ives, Carrie A., "More Sick, More BROADLY Spiritual: A Comparison of the Spirituality of Adolescents with and without Chronic Illness" (2024). Religious & Theological Studies Student Work. 11.
https://scholarworks.merrimack.edu/rts_studentpub/11