RESEARCH
Impact of spiritual practices on social work: students’ perception of life skills
Yamuna Sandrine Bonin, Renjith R Pillai1
Postgraduate MBA, Research Associate, 1PhD, Chairperson, Department of Social Work, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri Campus, Kollam, Kerala, India
Abstract
Sri Mata Amritanandamayi (renowned humanitarian and spiritual leader and Chancellor of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University) says: “The power of religion lies in spirituality. Spirituality is the cement that fortifies the edifice of society”. Spirituality appears as the key to understand not only religion but also the essence of society and its individuals.
Scientific literature widely shows the beneficial aspects of spirituality/religion on psychological well-being. This paper argues that students who have a higher spiritual level have a better perception of their life skills.
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines ‘life skills’ as, “the abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life”. Empathy, problem solving, critical thinking and decision making abilities must be well developed in students to achieve success. Coping with stress and emotions gives strength to adjust in difficult situations. Students feel more confident to manage their personal issues as well as outside problems.
Amrita University gives opportunities to students to include spiritual practices into their learning process. This paper shows that students who have an active spiritual life have a better perception of their life skills than students who are not practicing. Faith in God helps them to cope with stress and emotions. Compassion which is fundamental to spirituality opens their heart to others, develop empathy, effective communication and interpersonal relationship skills. As students get more personal development through spiritual practices, they are more effective and responsible.
Bonin YS, Pillai RR. Impact of spiritual practices on social work: students’ perception of life skills. Dysphrenia.
2013;4(1):49-58.
Keywords: Religion, Meditation. Psychology.
Correspondence: sandrine@am.amrita.edu
Received on 30 July 2012. Accepted on 28 August 2012
Introduction
Religion and spirituality have been commonly associated and identified to one another. Even western scientists are nowadays trying to find a proper definition for spirituality that would help them to proceed further into the field of psychology of religion. However, their place of research is not as rich as is India. Indeed, India hosts nearly all religions from Islam to Christianism, Buddhism, Jainism, Hinduism to tribal beliefs and in the same time is the kingdom of spiritual masters. This place seems to be the perfect soil from where to grow and collect new ideas and theories related to religion/spirituality. As diverse is the religion/spiritual status in India, its population is also very eclectic, very rich people living next to very poor beggars attests this fact. All religions tell us about the oneness of all human beings and the need for compassion. How then are there so many needy people in such a religious/spiritual place? Is religion/spirituality not at the service of individual and society? In this paper we propose to show that religion without its essence has no beneficial impact for individual and more widely for the society. Spirituality appears as a great strength but it needs to be cultivated. In order to have a better understanding of the situation of religion/spirituality regarding service to the society, we will study the degree of religion/spirituality of social work students of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, a college whose Chancellor Sri Mata Amritanandamayi, Amma, is a well known and recognised spiritual master. These findings will then be compared to students’ perception of life skills, these abilities that help them to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life for themselves and that will be provided soon as a service to the society. Indeed, life skills enable people to act in ways that can contribute to personal and social changes for the promotion of their own health and development, as well as that of the communities. Religion/spirituality helps students to learn to be by improving their coping with emotions and stress which then participate to give them keys to learn to live together in a better way.
Objective, significance of the study: This study represents a first attempt to understand religion/spirituality among social work students by analysing their connection to the supreme. It is an opportunity to assess the social reality of the religious/spiritual tradition.
In relation with mental health and well-being, this study aims to determine the relation between religion/spirituality and life skills perception. Are students with higher level of religious/spirituality more incline to have a better perception of their cognitive, social and psychological skills? If so, it means that religion/spirituality have a great potential in improving the social work education and education in general.
Theoretical background
1. Religious and spirituality
Researchers interested in the impact of religion and spirituality still discuss their definitions and measurements. While Hill and Pargament[1] consider spirituality and religion as similar and define them as a search for the sacred, there are others who differentiate between the two.[2-4] Religion is strongly connected to spirituality, it cannot exist without it, whereas, spirituality without religion has been observed among a minority. Moreover, religion is very specific as per its collective identity, social organisation and hierarchy. Religion is thus associated with rituals, God’s images, it tells how to be committed and to whom. The relation with the transcendent or what is divine or holy is ordered by rules. These aspects coincide with what Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi says on religion and spirituality: Every religion has two aspects: one is its philosophical teachings as explained in the scriptural texts; the other is spirituality. The former is religion’s outer shell, and spirituality, its inner essence. Spirituality is awakening to one’s true nature. Those who wake the effort to know their True Self are the truly faithful. Whatever one’s religion, if one understands the spiritual principles; one can attain the ultimate goal, the realisation of one’s true nature. The point of religion is to transform our minds. The power of religion lies in spirituality. Spirituality is the cement that fortifies the edifice of society. Practicing religion and living life without assimilating spirituality is like constructing a tower by imply piling up bricks without ever using any cement. It will easily crumble. Religious faith without spirituality becomes lifeless. Whereas great souls give importance to spiritual values, their followers often give more importance to institutions and organisations. As a result, the very religions that were meant to spread peace and tranquility by threading people together on the garland of love have become the cause of war and conflict.[5]
Beyond this separation between religion and spirituality, Amma defines the true meaning of spirituality and thus religion: Instead of focusing on the essence of the religious principles of love and compassion, we focus on the external rituals and traditions, which vary from religion to religion. This does not negate the importance of religious disciplines and traditions. Indeed, they have their own significance. They are necessary for our spiritual development. But we must remember that these traditions are the means to the goal, and not the goal. [6]
She also emphasises the essential unity of all religion, that dwells in compassion, love and unity:The goal of all religions is one-purification of the human mind. To overcome our selfishness, to love and serve our fellow beings, to rise to the level of universal consciousness - these goals are common to all religions. The core of religion is to foster these human values and awaken the innate divinity in people. In reality, the principles of love, compassion and unity are at the heart of all religious teachings. Christianity says, “Love thy neighbour as thyself.” Hinduism says, “We should pray that others may have what we pray for ourselves.” Islam says, “If you enemy’s donkey falls ill, you must take care of it.” Judaism says, “Hating one’s neighbour is equal to hating one’s self.” Though expressed in different ways, the principle conveyed here is the same. The import of all these sayings is that: as the same Soul, or Atman, abides in all things, we must see and serve all as One.[6] As Amma points out, even though religion and spirituality appear different, the true essence of both is in being compassionate to others.
Having established the link between religion and spirituality, one learns that the degree of spiritual development in both religious and non religious people depends on the compassion they show not only to others, but also to themselves. Indeed, compassion must also be directed towards oneself to develop love and care for others. Today, people are leading lifestyles that negatively affect their own lives and their environments. They indulge in alcoholism, addictions and overeating. It could be said that engaging in such activities stems from a lack of care for oneself. The question arises: How can a person who has an unhealthy lifestyle - a lack of care for oneself - be expected to care for another human being? Therefore, the “well-being” aspect appears as a main topic to assess spirituality.
In 1982, Paloutzian and Ellison had developed the “Spiritual Well-Being Scale” that measures the religious well-being and the existential well-being.[7] Hill and Pargament[1] noticed that the main topics to be measured concerning religion/spirituality are closeness to god, commitment or motivating forces, social support and religious struggle, but there is no trace of a scale that integrates compassion/empathy into the religious/spiritual measurement.
2. Religious/spirituality and mental health
Globally, a salutary religious/spiritual effect on mental health has been observed. Studies of old, middle-aged and young respondents; in men and women; in subjects from the United States, Europe, Africa and Asia; in research conducted in the 1930s and into the 1990s; in case control, prospective cohort, cross-sectional and panel studies; in Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Parsis and Zulus; converge to the same conclusion.[8]
i) Increased well-being
By reviewing 100 studies on religious commitment and psychological well-being (life satisfaction, happiness, morale or positive affect), Koening et al.[9] found that 79 reported at least one positive correlation between these variables. Other factors such as optimism and hope, self-esteem, sense of meaning in life, internal locus of control, social support and marital satisfaction seem to be also positively associated with religion/spirituality.[10]
As predicted by the attachment theory, Hill and Pargament[1] indicate that “people who report a closer connection to God experience a number of health-related benefits”: greater personal happiness and/or self-esteem,[11-16] and less depression,[15] less loneliness,[17] greater relational maturity,[18,19] and greater psychosocial competence.[20] This divine relation appears“particularly valuable to people in stressful situations including transplant surgery,[21] medical illness,[22] and natural disasters.[23]”
By giving a meaning/coherence to life, religion/spirituality helps people to understand better their role in the universe, their purpose in life, which buffers the effect of stress.[3]
ii) Empowerment
This sense of ultimate purpose and meaning appears as an empowering factor even in the midst of disturbing life events.[24] It provides stability, support, and direction.
Religious/spiritual beliefs appear as beneficial coping resources through enhancing acceptance of divine grace and love, awareness, faith and trust in God gives endurance, perseverance, resilience and courage to bear suffering, social responsibility and ethic, tolerance, openness and forgiveness and involvement in fellow’s community.[10,25-27]
They help people to develop self-confidence and positive self-image, but they can also lead to guilt, doubts, anxiety and depression through an enhanced self-criticism. Indeed, Hall and Pargament[1] identified that religious/spiritual beliefs show negative effects by creating religious/spiritual struggle, including interpersonal struggle, intraindividual struggle, and struggles with God.[28,29]
iii) Healthy behaviour
Besides the fact that better mental health has been observed among individuals with higher levels of an intrinsic (or spiritually) religious orientation, risk behaviours are also found considerably reduced in them. Hall and Pargament[1] mentions that lower levels of alcohol abuse, drug abuse and sexual promiscuity[30,31] have been reported. Also, Moreira-Almaida et al.[10] indicates that there is a negative correlation between the person’s religious involvement and the rates of risk behaviours. Regnerus[32] points out that it is now conceivable to many scholars, that religion provides motivation to refrain from acting.
By promoting healthy lifestyles and good qualities, religion/spirituality appears as a moral authority which people are willing to follow to get more benefits from it. They will be more likely to avoid vices (e.g., gluttony, lust, envy, pride) and practice the virtues (e.g., compassion, forgiveness, gratitude, hope).
iv) Religious/spiritual coping
Positive religious coping has been associated with good health outcomes, and negative religious coping with the opposite. Religious patients tend to use more positive than negative religious coping. Positive religious coping involves behaviours such as surrender to God’s will, put effort to attract God’s grace, seek support from fellows and guide. Negative religious coping includes waiting passively for God’s solution, living the suffering as God’s punishment or as an act of the devil and, questioning God’s love.[27]
Religiousness was the second most important protective factor, after having a structured family which is in turn, associated with family religiousness. Regnerus[32] mentions Varon and Riley’s[33] report that adolescents, whose mothers attended religious services at least once a week, displayed better health problem-solving skills, more support from their friends, and higher overall satisfaction with their lives, even after controlling for race, gender, income and family structure. The protective effect of religiousness appears to be stronger for people under psychosocial stress.[10]
Jones[34] cites Kause et al.[35] who found that spiritual support from co-religionists was mainly used in religious coping, before emotional support from co-religionists and from clergy. He also quoted Tarakeshwar et al.,[36] who found that in a sample of Presbyterians, the view of nature as sacred was associated with greater pro-environmental beliefs and actions.
These examples of findings suggest that attributing sacredness to experiences such as marriage, sexuality, social action, receiving spiritual support, are representing the unique contribution of religion/spirituality to well-being. It goes beyond common psychological channel like a sense of coherence, healthy behaviour, social support and medical compliance.[34]
v) Meditation
Meditation practices, which are the most significant of spiritual/religious practice studied so far, have shown several positive changes in health such as changes in personality, reduce tension and anxiety, diminish self-blame, stabilise emotional ups and downs, and improve self-knowledge.[27] Regarding life skills, relaxation has been proved to improve the life skills education, however there is no study on the impact of meditation and/or religious/spiritual practices on life skills development.
Gap in theory/theoretical model
This review of literature is based on Western research papers. However, Indian religious/spiritual culture is very specific. As opposed to Western countries, it is very rare in India to find somebody affirming his non religiosity, especially in rural areas. This relation with the Divine, even though common, seems very particular to each and every individuals. Indeed, the high number of God and Goddess, places for worship, festivals attests of a rich and diverse religion/spiritual Indian culture. Obviously, there must be differences in the way individuals relate to their God, feel close to the divine and commit religiously. Assessing these factors will permit to identify degrees of religiosity. Then, religious aspect has to be associated with spirituality - the positive attitude that a person has regarding its religion and life.
Compassion as mentioned earlier must be integrated in religious/spiritual measurement; it is the essence of religion/spirituality. As Indian religious/spiritual tradition is based on unity, compassion is the major component of a spiritual religiosity. Sages and saints, for eons, are praying not for themselves or family/relatives and friends, they are praying for peace in Nature, in society and in themselves – Om Santih Santih Santih.
So far, compassion has not been integrated in papers on psychology of religion, reviewed till now even though it appears determinant in a religious/spiritual relation to others. In social work, compassion appears even more relevant that it is nourishing empathy and altruism, values that motivate greatly social work. Indeed, social workers who are willing to do good for others and the society, will have a greater enthusiasm and motivation if they have a sense of divine purpose in their work. This higher commitment and dedication is encouraging them to use their skills extensively. While doing more, they are learning more and thus are improving their skills.
Hypothesis
Even though religion is dominant among Indian students, its spiritual aspect is relatively low. A majority of students live their religion without deep motivation. Religion appears mostly as a social conditioning.
Students with a high spiritual level have a better perception of life skills.
The degree of religiousness/spirituality is more linked to psychological skills, with a special focus on coping with stress, than to social skills. Social skills seem also more connected to the degree of religiousness/spirituality than cognitive skills.
Compassion plays an important role in the relation between religion/spirituality and perception of life skills above all for social skills.
Methodology
The main study was conducted on a sample of 49 social work students drawn from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. The Perception of Life Skills questionnaire[37] was used. The religious/spiritual assessment was mostly inspired by the Spiritual Well-Being Scale[38] and the Religious Commitment Inventory-10.[39] Other questions were added in order to test the empathy level and the religious/spiritual struggle level.
The spiritual/religious aspect is measured on the basis of the respondents’ closeness to God, religious/spiritual commitment, religious and existential well-being, religious/spiritual struggle and compassion subscales.
The life skills are divided into ten subscales: critical thinking, creative thinking, problem solving, decision making for cognitive skills, effective communication, interpersonal relationship, empathy, for social skills and self-awareness, coping with emotions and coping with stress for psychological skills.[40]
Results
1. Religious/spirituality
A few people are spending more than 30 minutes on spiritual/religious practices every day
Among 48 respondents, 20 people consider themselves as very spiritual/ religious and four of them practice more than 30 minutes a day. For those who consider themselves as mostly strong spiritual/ religious person, three out 13 practice more than 30 minutes a day.
The majority of the respondents, 32 people, practice a few minutes per day.
These results also show that there are a very small percentage of students who declares that they are slightly spiritual/religious. There is not even one student who said that he/she is not at all spiritual.
There is not enough variance according to these two factors to determinate a degree of religiosity/spirituality among students.
High religious/spiritual declaration is linked to closeness to the divine, high religious commitment and well-being (Table 1)
As per the results, one can say that students, who are declaring that they perceive themselves as strong or very strong religious/spiritual, have most probably (more than 99%) a high religious commitment and religious well-being. They also feel more than moderately close to God at 95%. There is no significance with existential well-being, religious/spiritual struggle and compassion.
Existential well-being is negatively correlated to religious/spiritual struggle
Students who have a high level of existential well-being will have most probably a high level of religious well-being. They will also have a low level of religious struggle as attested by coefficient of correlation (-0.46).
Compassion is linked to closeness to the divine, religious motivation and well-being
Those who consider themselves more than moderately close to the divine, have most probably (more than 99%) a high level of religious motivation, well-being and compassion. These four factors appear very much linked together, even though some differences are there. The coefficient of correlation shows that closeness to the Divine and compassion are moderately positively correlated. Likewise, existential well-being and religious well-being are moderately positively correlated.
This test shows that religious/spiritual declaration is not so much link with existential well-being and compassion which are variables that measures the level of spirituality. In order to segregate this sample into two groups according to their level of religiosity/spirituality, closeness to the divine, religious and existential well-being, religi-ous/spiritual motivation/commit-ment, and compassion have been sum up. The respondents whom the results are superior to the median have been selected into the group of higher spiritual level.
2. Religious/spirituality and Perception of Life Skills
Religious/spiritual factor is related to all life skills except critical thinking (Table 2)
The t test reveals significance with all life skills except critical thinking. There are very significant differences in Perception of Life Skills means between the highest religious/spiritual students and the lowest ones: p values are all inferior to two per cent. The most significance is found out with coping with stress, then comes interpersonal relationship, then empathy and coping with emotions, then self-awareness, then comes the first cognitive skill with decision making, then effective communication and creative thinking at one per cent significance. Problem solving is related at three per cent significance.
Correlation is higher with psychological and social skills (Table 3 & Figure 2)
Coefficients of correlation are superior to 50% for: Religious well-being/interpersonal relationship and religious well-being /“psychological skills;” compassion/“social skills” and compassion/coping with emotions.
There is a lack of signi-ficance for decision-making.
The highest correlation is found between religious well-being and coping with stress.
Religious well-being and compassion are the most determinant religious/spiritual factors related to life skills.
Also, we can observe that religious well-being and compassion are the two religious/spiritual variables that are mostly correlated with social skills and psychological skills. Religious well-being has a moderately high positive correlation with interpersonal relationship, with empathy and with coping with stress and emotions. Compassion is moderately highly positively correlated with effective communication, interpersonal relationship, empathy and coping with emotions. If compassion is not part of the religious/spiritual measurement, the correlation with life skills is smaller. This is very obvious with coping with emotions and empathy life skills.
Only one cognitive skill is correlated with a religious/spiritual variable. Indeed, it is interesting to notice that there is a moderately high positive correlation between religious struggle and critical thinking.
Discussion
1. Religious/spirituality
This study clearly shows that religiosity is common in India but spirituality is not that much understood and practiced. Indeed, only seven students out of 49 are practicing more than 30 minutes a day.
Also, they are not taking the spiritual opportunities that the environment is offering them. Only six of them are doing IAM meditation, which is a short meditation technique that has been developed by Sri Mata Amritanandamayi for spiritual development. Also, only ten of them are reporting that they got an experience of the divine while listening or meeting a living spiritual master whereas Amma, recognised as a Satguru is the Chancellor of their university and spend nearly five months a year in the ashram next to the college.
It also seems that non religiosity is not socially acceptable in India as no students dare to declare that they are not religious. It may be due to relativism of religion. This phenomenon would also explain the passivity of the students regarding their faith. If religion is not a personal choice but a social and familial conditioning, then there is no interest to enquire deeper about it, conforming to familial and social expectations is enough.
The sociological situation of religion/spirituality in India is really specific, so it would be interesting to document further with Indian research paper on this subject. Also compassion has revealed to be a significant variable in this study. So compassion should be integrated in further religious and spiritual studies.
2. Prevalence of religious well-being and compassion
Through the t test and correlation test, religious well-being and compassion appear as the main variables that relate to life skills. Religious well-being actually measures the positive aspects of the relation with the divine: care and love from the divine, sense of satisfaction, happiness, meaning and purpose in life through this relation, support and strength. This positive relation with a higher Self seems to nourish students, first psychologically while coping with stress and emotions and also in their relations with others. Religiosity/spirituality is more linked to intrapersonal level than to the interpersonal level life skills.
Social skills are mainly correlated to compassion, which appears logical as compassion measures the degree of altruism and empathy connected to the sense of oneness. Indeed, religious people are mainly responding that they are praying for their family and relatives, but those who have a high rate of compassion do not limit to their family, they integrate the entire human king and even nature into it. By being sensitive to the situations of others, compassionate people feel more involved and responsible, they are willing to participate for the best of everyone to the resolution a problematic situation. While facing more challenging situations, they are developing more their skills in this learning process of life.
This last findings and discussion is very relevant in the context of education and more especially in the context of social work education. Indeed, the aim is to help students to face situations where an individual or a group of people need assistance and give them the tools that will bring positive outcomes for the beneficiaries. Thus it appears logical that the more altruist and compassionate a person will be, the more he/she will be able to understand and help. The perseverance and courage that a social work student will show will be supported by his faith. The more faith he/she has into the supreme, the more he will feel confident. Spirituality really appears as a key to achieve effective social work practice as it gives strength and empathy to the practitioners. Spirituality is a great ally to social work.
Limitations of the study
Self-reported data are limited as students may have some difficulties to understand a statement or may not put enough attention into the questionnaire. This is even truer that some students complain about the length of the life skills questionnaire. Beyond the self-reported studies made in the area of psychology of religion, the field of contemplative neurosciences with Richie Davidson is using medical sciences to assess the effect of conscious meditation on the brain. Contemplative neurosciences is demonstrating the same beneficial effects on cognitive, social and psychological skills that the psychology of religion with empirical and medical data. They are actually proving what Deepak Chopra stated more than 20 years ago, the mind has the power to change the brain and by doing so to reach perfect well-being.[41]
Conclusion
This study has shown significant relations between the degree of religion/spirituality and the perception of life skills. First, spirituality has an impact on psychological skills. It helps to deal with stress and emotions by being a loving and caring support to the students through his/her faith in a benevolent supreme entity that gives a purpose to life. Also, by developing compassion, spirituality is helping students to develop more social skills such as interpersonal relationship, empathy and effective communication. By giving to students a vision of equity with all living being and of oneness with the creation, spirituality is giving the opportunity to students to treat others as a beloved one and care for them. The more compassion flourishes, the more students will be willing to put effort to help the needy. And the more they will put effort, the more they will learn and develop their skills. Compassion and a positive faith are two crucial qualities for a social worker as it is not always easy to rejoice and persevere in the middle of suffering. They are surely a great strength for any students and a must for any social work education. Together, let us realise the heart of religion - universal love, purity of heart, beholding oneness everywhere[5] and be great social worker.
Further reading
Amritanandamayi M. Keynote address during the closing Plenary Session of The Parliament of World’s Religions in Barcelona, Spain; 14 July 2004.
Harrison MO, Koenig HG, Hays JC, Eme-Akwari AG, Pargament KI. The epidemiology of religious coping: A review of recent literature. Int Rev Psychiatry. 2001;13:86-93.
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