Abstract
This study reviewed the literature on religiousness and spirituality (RS) published in three major journals in counseling psychology. We aimed to evaluate (a) the content and methods of RS research and (b) operational definitions of RS constructs and suggestions for research and practice. At Level 1, we reviewed 901 articles that included an RS related word(s) anywhere in the article. At Level 2, we further analyzed 108 empirical studies and 31 conceptual articles that included RS as a study variable or a primary topic. Both quantitative and qualitative (i.e., thematic analysis) methods were used for data analysis. To summarize the key findings, major topics related to RS included mental health, wellbeing, LGBTQ experiences, help-seeking, counseling process, eudaimonic wellbeing, identity, discrimination, and minority stress. Religiousness and spirituality tended to be defined in a dichotomous way. We suggest future directions for research, practice, advocacy, education, and training, building on the holistic, multicultural, and positive premises of counseling psychology.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
