Bridging Disciplinary Boundaries (January 11 - 14, 2007)

Purpose: Despite methodological limitations and heterogeneity in religious measure, findings of previous empirical studies point consistently, though not unanimously, to a positive effect of religion on health and psychological well-being among elderly individuals. Although considerable research on the impact of spirituality, religiousness, and social support on subjective well-being has examined, few studies focus on elderly individuals in rural areas. The purpose of the study is to examine the relationships between religious experiences, spiritual practices, social support, and subjective well-being among elderly individuals in rural communities.

Methods: A convenience sample of 215 elderly individuals was obtained at local senior centers in both West Virginia and North Carolina. Eighty five elderly individuals were White (39%), 75 African-American (35%), and 55 Native Americans (26%). With respect to annual income, 177 respondents (83%) reported an income under $20,000, indicating that the majority of the participants were financially below or near the poverty line. To measure various domains of religiousness/spirituality, the Brief Multidimensional Measures of Religiousness/Spirituality was used. For this study, researchers selected six sub-scales including daily spiritual experiences, values/beliefs, forgiveness, private religious practice, religious/spiritual coping, and religious support. The Social Support Measurement was used to measure perceived social support. The Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale and the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) were used to measure psychological well-being.

Results: The hierarchical regression analysis found positive relationships between religiousness/spirituality and social support with levels of subjective well-being among older adults in rural areas. More specifically, elderly individuals who reported looking to God for strength and comfort or deciding what to do with God were more likely to have greater life satisfaction. As hypothesized, religiousness and spirituality decreased the levels of depression. Those who experienced more forgiveness, had stronger religious belief systems, and were more likely to use religious and spiritual coping skills were less depressed. Inconsistent with prior research, this study found that social support from family and/or friends did not have a significant buffering impact of any of the depressive symptoms, but had a strong association with life satisfaction.

Implications: Findings of this study suggest health and mental health providers to assess and understand the roles of spirituality and religiousness when working with elderly individuals. By ignoring the spiritual component, health professionals and social work practitioners may fail to focus on the whole person, missing much strength for coping with adversity and loss, as well as a support system important enough to help enhance the quality of life. Health professionals need to be also closely working with faith communities to support the spiritual inclinations of rural elderly as well as to develop programs or services that are congruent with religious/spiritual beliefs and practices in order to better enhance the subjective well-being for rural elderly. As rural residents heavily rely on social networks to provide social support and other services which more formal agencies often provide in urban areas, successful rural models including spiritual care should be based on the context that is germane to rural community life.