Date Presented 04/04/2025
Spiritual wellness is part holistic wellness. Come to learn what older adults believe about spirituality, meaning, and occupations considered spiritual. Practice implications include insights for client-centered practice that support wellness.
Primary Author and Speaker: Deborah Elgin Budash
Additional Authors and Speakers: Kaitlyn Berback, Sara E. Devereux, Ryann E. Betancourt, Erin E. Quinn, Kelsey E. Jopling
Contributing Authors: Danielle Depasquale, Mackenzie E. Longo, Andrea E. Valez
PURPOSE: This study explored the views of older adults on spirituality, meaning, and occupations considered spiritual. This research provides insights to OTPs related to comprehensive wellness of older clients, informs the client-centered approach, and deepens our knowledge and understanding of meaningful occupations.
DESIGN: Basic qualitative research utilizing convenience and snowball sampling of 37 participants aged 65 years and older.
METHOD: Telephone and in-person interviews were conducted. An interview protocol was developed based on concepts identified in the literature. The interview protocol was field tested on eight individuals with revisions made for improved clarity. Interviews were recorded to facilitate creation of transcripts used for data analysis. Responses were disaggregated by question and content was analyzed for themes both in small groups and by the research team until consensus was achieved.
RESULTS: Four main themes were identified including the importance of reflection to understand one’s own spirituality and spiritual occupations; spirituality is understood as belief in a higher being or associated with life values; spirituality and spiritual occupations were viewed as positive life influences; and a variety of occupations can be considered spiritual.
CONCLUSION: Spirituality plays a foundational role in the lives of these participants. A wide variety of occupations were considered spiritual. These occupations were engaged in for multiple purposes and ways including alone or with others, or actively or passively depending on health status.
IMPACT STATEMENT: Understanding how older adults view spirituality and spiritual occupations deepens the OTPs concept of occupation and comprehensive wellness; broadens our knowledge of varied spiritual occupations that can be prioritized as part of client-center care; and enhances the OTPs ability to grade spiritual occupations to the client’s current level of participation.
References
Griffith J., Caron C. D., Desrosiers J., & Thibeault R. (2007). Defining spirituality and giving meaning to occupation: The perspective of community-dwelling older adults with autonomy loss. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 74(2), 78–90. https://doi.org/10.2182/cjot.06.0016
Henricksen, A., & Stephens, C. (2010). An exploration of the happiness-enhancing activities engaged in by older adults. Ageing International, 35(4), 311–326. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12126-010-9059-y
Milliken, B. E. (2020). Clients’ perspectives of spirituality in occupational therapy: A retrospective study. The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy, 8(4), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.15453/2168-6408.1666
Williams, B. J. (2008). An exploratory study of older adults’ perspectives of spirituality. Occupational Therapy in Health Care. 22(1), 3–19. https://doi.org/10.1300/j003v22n01_02
