Spirituality and Religiosity in Adolescents Living With Sickle Cell Disease

Abstract

This study purports to address paucity in the literature regarding how adolescents with sickle cell disease (SCD) describe and experience spirituality and religiosity (S/R). This was a qualitative descriptive study. Two semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine adolescents ( Mage = 16.2 years). Data were analyzed using a template analysis style and a concurrent analysis process of data reduction. Three major themes encompassed the participants’ descriptions of the relationships between S/R, health and illness in their lives including S/R as sources for coping, influence of S/R beliefs on health and illness, and sharing S/R with Health Care Providers (HCPs). S/R as coping mechanisms included six threads: interconnecting with God, interconnecting with others, interconnecting with creative arts, scriptural metanarratives, transcendent experiences, and acceptance and finding meaning. Expectations of health providers included two threads: Religiosity is private/personal and sharing spiritual and religious beliefs is risky. S/R are particularly salient for adolescents with SCD.

Processes of Religious and Spiritual Influence in Adolescence: A Systematic Review of 30 Years of Research

“…Cook's (2000) study of the resilience of inner-city minority youth found that religious youth had greater psychological well-being than the control group because the church provided teens with the three levels of support-mentorship, community support, and a relationship with God. All three components of support also appeared in three other studies (Clayton-Jones, Haglund, Belknap, Schaefer, & Thompson, 2016;Liu, Carter, Boehm, Annandale, & Taylor, 2014;Nourian, Shahbolaghi, Tabrizi, Rassouli, & Biglarrian, 2016). However, given that most often church leader and community support were the only types of support mentioned (11 out of 18 studies), we coded God support as Spiritual (specifically Theistic Spirituality) and support in religious communities as RS Support.…”

“…Second, RS Belief was another process of influence frequently identified in Qualitative studies. Teens often felt that religion gave them a sense of belonging (e.g., Benavides, 2012), scriptures provided them with important values and directions for life (e.g., Clayton-Jones et al, 2016), and that God was a trusted source of protection, strength, comfort, and guidance (e.g., Hills, Meyer-Weitz, & Asante, 2016;Liu et al, 2014;Van der Meer Sanchez, De Oliveira, & Nappo, 2008). These themes have largely been ignored by quantitative researchers.…”

“…Qualitative studies examining the role of spirituality tended to focus on theistic aspects rather than existential aspects. Connection to God was facilitated through regular engagement in religious practices (e.g., worship service attendance, prayer, and scripture study; e.g., Clayton-Jones et al, 2016;Kubiliene, Yan, Kumsa, & Burman, 2015).…”

Adolescents’ experiences of living with sickle cell disease: An integrative narrative review of the literature

“…In one qualitative study, adolescents described using spirituality through their connection with people (e.g. family, friends, and spiritual leaders), nature, and creative activities as a way of coping with painful crises or illness (Clayton-Jones et al, 2016). Additional coping strategies identified were helping others through volunteering activities and the use of humour, particularly about painful crises (Atoui et al, 2015;Clayton-Jones et al, 2016).…”

“…Religious beliefs and practices appear to help some adolescents find peace, strength, and comfort, especially during illness or painful crises as well as extending their social support network (Atoui et al, 2015;Clayton-Jones et al, 2016). However, their beliefs could be challenged at times when they felt overwhelmed by SCD or when they reflected on the fairness of having the condition.…”