Spiritual Wellness Term Paper

Chesla Francis-Vincent RN, AAS

New York City College of Technology

NUR 4020 OL28 Fall 2015

Women’s Health and Wellness Across the Life Continuum

Prof. Lynda M. Konecny

December 1, 2015

 

Until recently, I never understood the true meaning of spirituality. When nurses embrace spirituality, it helps with the holistic care of the patient, and how spirituality can help clarify for “us” healthcare providers who are still in doubt and are crippled in our egocentric views. I will attempt to provide my understanding of spirituality and what it means to me. With that said, I will further examine the influence of religion and spirituality on women’s well-being. I will take a closer look at forms of non-traditional spirituality, which will enable me to a better understand the practices of other women’s spirituality that I might come into contact with while providing their care. Understanding the (7) seven traits for spiritual wellness and its impact and also measuring the degree of spiritual wellness as nurses are very important and can be determined through analysis of a spiritual wellness self-assessment survey; this survey will be used to determine my own spirituality. I strongly believe that when we carefully examine our spiritual wellness as health care providers, it helps us to understand the impact spirituality has on us as Registered Professional Nurses. I will now go on to discuss what influence religion and spirituality have on women’s well-being.

Religion and spirituality has a positive effect on the health of women. The importance it plays in the lives of women will be discussed as follows. Spirituality is abstract; it cannot be measured and is often associated with religion, which is considered off limits for scientific medicine (Power point slide #10). Some may define ‘spirit’ as the essence of a given person (Condon, 2004, page562). In order to fully understand the meaning of spirituality, it has been conceptualized, so that researchers can study it. Three conceptualizations used are as follows: 1. Spirituality as a belief in and relationship with a deity, expressed as participation in the rituals and practices of an organized religion. 2. Spirituality as a belief in and relationship with a higher power or anything considered to be transcendent, expressed in a nontraditional or eclectic way. 3. Spirituality as the essence, or spirit of a person, expressed as the person’s total functioning and way of being in the world (Condon, 204, pages 562-563). Spirituality is a broader concept than religion and encompasses a person’s search for meaningful relationship with other people. It involves a sense of unity with reality more enduring than the individual self (Power point slide #13). Taken together, the many studies that have being done on religion and health suggest that religious people are generally healthier and tend to live longer compared to people who are not religious (Condon, 2004,page563). The act of praying, which is practice in religion, can bring about calm and relaxation, which can be beneficial to health. Such benefits that can be achieved include decrease in blood pressure, heart and respiratory rate (Condon, 2004,page564). When it comes to one of society’s most recently concerning illnesses, which is mental health, religion has played a major role. Less depression is seen in religious people as opposed to nonreligious people (Condon, 2004,page563). Furthermore, one of society’s major scourges, addiction to alcohol and/or other drugs, is less common among religious people (Condon, 2004, page563). Now that we have examined the influence that religion and spirituality can have on women’s well being, there are also forms of non-traditional spirituality that will be looked at. Astrology, Hinduism, Gnostic traditions, Yoga, and Meditation also brings about its own effects and influences on women’s wellbeing, and I will examine each one independently.

Astrology, as a form of non-traditional spirituality, takes us back into history, one can see that not only today, but also in earlier times when human beings always needed help for making big decisions to gain personal insights. Many of the early civilizations relied on elders to provide these services. Eventually, these civilizations developed scientific systems that helped them predict the future (Inside astrology.net). The science of astrology has changed throughout history, but it remained an important part of how many people make sense of themselves and the world around them (Inside astrology.net). The astrology most commonly used today comes from Hellenistic astrology from the 4^th century, which includes Hindu, and Chinese astrology. These astrologies largely focus on yin and yang and various celestial systems, and Tai astrology, which use the Tai lunar calendar to make predictions. Hellenistic astrology focuses on 12 zodiac signs, people born under these signs tend to have certain characteristics. Even laypersons can gain minor insights by learning about their astrological signs (Inside astrology.net). These are the familiar representation of the zodiac signs as follows: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces. Astrology as a science is a complex study that applies astrological charts and mathematics to ancient wisdom (Inside astrology.net). Since this form of non-traditional spirituality plays a great part in the lives of women. Its very important as health care providers that we understand that some women base lots of decisions concerning their health on astrology and so, we should have a understanding of its meaning. So to Hinduism have its effect on women, which I will examine next.

Hinduism consists of thousands of different religious groups that have evolved in India. Their Supreme god is Brahma and they view mankind as divine, because Brahma is everything Hinduism assess that everyone is divine. The spiritual goal of a Hindu is to become one with Brahma, thus ceasing to exist in its illusionary form of an individual self (Got questions .org). This freedom is referred to as “Moksha” until Moksha is achieved; a Hindu believes that he/she will be repeatedly reincarnated in order that he/she may work towards self-realization of the truth. The truths being that only Brahma exist, nothing else. How a person is reincarnated is determined by karma, which is a principle of cause and effect governed by nature’s balance. What one did in the past affects or corresponds with what happens in the future, past and future lives included. Similarly as Hindu believes in one supreme god Brahma, Gnostic traditions believe that there is a true, ultimate and transcendent god (Gotquestion.org).

This God however, is believed to be beyond all created universe, and never created anything. Gnostic belief is that the world we live in is flawed and that life on earth is filled with suffering. Christianity blames Adam and Eve for suffering but Gnostic Tradition believes that the creator is to be blamed for all the trials and tribulations of the world. They believe that there is a false creator god and the light of the true god; the latter, which usually sends forth messengers of light to help humans (Gnosis.org). They strongly believe that in order for humans to achieve salvation they should put forward great effort to contribute such salvation. One of the messengers of light is said to be Jesus Christ and unlike other traditional forms of spirituality, they believe that Christ teaching and establishing ministries is what have performed his work of salvation and not his death and suffering (Gnosis.org). There are some traditional forms of spirituality that believes Christ suffering was so we gain our salvation. As humans we try not to suffer or bear pain too often, therefore some women will turn to practice of yoga to help calm the mind and body through ordeal such as pain.

Yoga is considered a holistic package for happy living. It provides techniques to unite the body, mind and breath, and connect to the inner core of our being-the spiritual aspect. The art of yoga practice is usually done in silence on a mat but there is more to yoga than just sitting on a mat. According to Dr Swami Saraswati, medical doctor, yoga therapist and author working in mind-body medicine, yoga and meditation. He wrote, “ from a yogic prospective, we experience the spiritual, by cultivating our awareness and taking this awareness deep into the subtle dimensions of our being (Dr Saraswati, 2007). He went on to say, awareness allows us to experience the subtle aspects of life and marks a step on our journey towards self- realization. Once we have forged a consciousness with that which is beyond the “little us” then we can bring that connection and understanding into our everyday lives” (The art of living). This awareness, which Dr. Saraswati is referring to, is the practice of meditation, which is the next non-traditional form of spirituality that I will examine.

Meditation, mindfulness, and spirituality was a segment that was covered this summer of 2015 on CBS news, which featured Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche the spiritual leader of Shambhala Buddhist tradition and Sharon Salzberg, Buddhist meditation teacher and cofounder of the Insight Mediation Society. The documentary featured students talking about ways mediation had helped them when in stress and both leaders was talking about the benefits of meditation to a larger extent. What was most fascinating to me is Sharon Salberg interpretation of meditation, she mention that during meditation one ought to sit with your back straight and direct attention toward your breath. “You don’t have to do anything to feel your breath”, she said, “by just breathing you can meditate using breath awareness”(CBS new, 2015). She went on to further state that meditation is private and free, using concentration and mindfulness as quality of awareness where perception of what is happening in the moment is not destroyed by bias. “ If practice often enough we see into the nature of our experience”(CBS News, 2015). She said. “ Mindfulness leads to insight, insight leads to compassion, and compassion rest on how we pay attention it can help with stress”(CBS News, 2015). Just so too, we can take a look at how certain personalities can help ease us from stress. Which brings me to Dreher’s seven (7) traits that comprise the ACE factors of spiritual wellness. The various traits of Ace factor have being shown to provide women with the ability to control the stresses that they feel internally which may somehow create external stressors.

The ACE factor is the ability to attend, pay attention to, connect with and express emotions, (Condon, 2004 page568). The Ace factor consist of seven (7) traits which are assertiveness, hardiness, capacity to confide, facilitative trust, cynicism, altruism, and self-complexity. Gary Schwartz a professor of psychology at Harvard University, conducted research for the ACE factor. He decided to investigate the mental-emotional relationship and physical states when he noticed he was having physical symptoms after he experienced stress (Condon, 2004, page568). Over a period of time he built a body of research, which provided information that would perceive individual’s stress and then in turn how they would respond to such stress, he also had the participants reveal whether the stress they perceived were what they actually thought it would be (Condon, 2004 page,568). Schwartz also investigated with colleagues Ace factor on the body’s immunity. People who are strong in the Ace factor did appear to be less vulnerable to infection and cancer (Condon, 2004 page569). Stress is something we will all encounter/experience at some point in our lives but how we cope with stress will be on indicator of our personality trait. The following is a short description of these Traits, 1-

Assertiveness is the capacity to stand up for oneself with out disregarding the rights and interest of others, these studies were done by Solomon, who gathered that a well balanced immune system is seen in assertive individuals (Condon, 2004 page569). 2- Hardiness defined by Suzanne Ouellette Kobasa, she said this trait consist of three (3) qualities which are challenge (stress could be seen as challenge to overcome instead of something threatening), commitment (people find their work to have purpose and meaning), and control, (people seem to think that they have influence/control with how things will turn out) (Condon, 2004 page569). 3-Capacity to Confide, James Pennebaker research suggest that disclosing previously inhibited thoughts and feelings may speed up the coping process and this process somehow allows the immune system to function at a higher level (Condon, 2004 page 571). 4- Affiliative trust this is when someone expects to form loving relationship that will be mutually respected and built on trust, so unconditional love is expected whether one get back that love in return. McClelland found that the immune functions of subjects high in affiliative trust improved when they were imagining or viewing loving and caring relationships, but that the immune functioning of subjects low in affiliative trust became weaker when they imagined or viewed similar scenes (Condon, 2004 page571). 5. Cynicism is the attitude of general mistrust when it comes to intentions of other people opposite to affiliative trust. Lepore studies suggested that cynical individual benefit less form social support (Condon, 2004 page572) 6. Altruism is the inclination to help others, volunteering is a great example, there seems to be a correlation between altruism and superior health and longevity. Dr Phyllis Moen found that being a member of a volunteer organization was significantly related to increased longevity. Her colleagues found that women who volunteered had better health and longevity (Condon, 2004 page572). 7. Self-complexity is the presence of multiple roles in our lives instead of one. Patricia Linville developed the idea that many aspect of self will protect an individual from depression and effects of stress (Condon, 2004 page573). These traits mentioned clearly shows that we are all unique, no matter what we will all have different forms of spirituality in which we will conform to. At the end it is not our duty as health care providers to convert our patients to our chosen form of spirituality, but instead to be there for them by just being a good listener.

Everyone I suppose has individual understanding of what spirituality means to him or her. I will establish to you my views of spirituality. We are often surrounded by diversity in our practice and so, in order to provide holistic patient centered care one has to develop cultural awareness. Similarly I believe that spiritual awareness plays a very essential part in nurse-patient well being. Nowadays whenever I think of spirituality, I never think about my religious practices. Instead, I think about compassion, fear of a higher power, love and respect for others, dignity, the need to be humble, and the honor to care for others including my family. The confidence gained in the manner in which I mend broken relationships, the look on the faces of individuals that I helped. In some way or the other are some of the ways in which my spirituality is measured. Only through these beliefs I truly have recently realized how myself as a human being have begin to evolve and grow. It sets me on a path to become more aware of “self”, knowing what I want in this universe and working towards empowering myself to getting what I want helped me make the decision to baptize three (3) months ago.

I didn’t just get up 3 months ago and decided to baptize, it took a lot of soul searching. The following spiritual wellness self- assessment survey has helped me tremendously with my decision. Answering the following question has helped determined my spiritual wellness.

1. What is your purpose in life? I perceive that I have been placed on earth to nurture, whether it is family or other members in society. Since age seven living in the Caribbean I always cared about the kids in the village. When school went on summer break I had classes with them teaching them to sing rhymes and provided them with sandwiches etc.
2. What activities do you do regularly that brings you joy? Taking care of my three children brings me immense joy; it never gets old watching them laugh. Even times when they cry after a fall or even seeing the confused look on their faces when attempting something new, and putting them to sleep, singing them lullabies, are activities that never get old for me.

3.Do you believe in a higher power? This is one off the most respected and fearful thing for me, my experiences of homelessness have thought me that someone that we can’t physically see is always watching over me.

4. Who can you count on for encouragement/ and or support? I usually prayer about anything I need any type of encouragement with, because life has thought me to only trust my supreme being with anything.

5.To whom do you give encouragement/ and or support? My 13-year-old daughter is the one person that I constantly encourage to reach as close to self-actualization as she can on a daily basis. I also support my husband in any endeavors he pursues that seems challenging.

6. Who loves you? I know my god loves me because if he didn’t I would not have came out of a past violent relationship, and now be able to build a wonderful and comforting family.
7. Whom do you love and care about? I love my self and my family a great deal and I care about all the people I come into contact with on a daily basis who has helped shaped my life in some way or the other.

8.In what areas are you growing? Recently I can truly say I am growing in confidence. I felt as though in the past I had a fear to tackle things that seemed challenging. In the past the fear of failure had crippled me.

9.What activities nurture you? As simple as it may seem, but household chores keep me grounded. I feel relax when cleaning and my mind is always at ease when doing household chores.

10. Is there something that you do just for yourself everyday? Everyday I make sure to pray and I also make sure that I consume at least 8 glasses of water daily.
11. How do you go about forgiving yourself? I try not to feel guilty about things that I feel responsible for that went wrong, and so I pray about it and start over with positive thoughts
12. How do you go about forgiving others? I forgive others by discussing whatever the misconception was or the misunderstanding, and learn from that particular incident and move on.
13. To whom do you confide your hopes, dreams, and pain? I first speak to my god in pray, and them I speak to my husband about what I think is appropriate to talk to him about because I do have hopes and dreams that I keep private.
14. What do you hope for in the future? I hope with all my heart to be happy, to see my kids achieved to their best abilities and that I will be the best Nurse-Midwife Women ‘s Health Nurse practitioner that I can be.
15. What do you do regularly just for fun? For fun I listen music and read novels it keeps me in a state of calm.
16. When do you reach out to people? I normally reach out to people when I think they might have experience in something that I don’t have prior experience; especially when it comes to my kids. Its usually my grandma on advise on how to prepare certain meals or discipline measure for the kids. Also if I am aware that someone is in distress and need someone to talk to I always make myself available to them by being a good listener, and giving my advise with careful thought put into it.
17. What goals do you have for six months from now? Six months from now I intend to complete my BSN degree and move out of New York City.
18. What goals do you have for two years from now? Two years from now I intend to start my masters program.
19. Do you look forward to getting up in the morning? Oh yes in the morning it’s a feeling of joy to wake up with renew energy, and absolutely feel excited to see what challenges that new day will bring.
20. Would you like to live to be 100? This question I would answer yes and no to, yes it would be a wonderful thing to see how my family will grow in the future and also see how my kids carry on my legacy. When it comes to the obvious challenges that old age will bring with it, I will say no, but now in the moment I will accept whatever reality that is my situation and just continue to take steps to address every challenge that I am faced with.

I have decided to let fear be a thing of the past and to stop running from myself, I started to stand up and face what is making me most uncomfortable in life which is fear. Everyday that I wake up I find time to question myself and the progress that I have made. The one thing that keeps me grounded is prayer, I get this great feeling when I pray, it brings joy, hope and fulfillment within. Its during this time that the connection with my higher power joins me in the moment and emotionally captivates my soul taking me to higher heights in that given moment. It’s a feeling of interconnection with my soul and the universe transcending into one. I haven’t yet worked as a nurse but I think that the way spirituality will impact my role, as a registered professional nurse will be 1. I will be there for my patient by giving of “myself” just my presence can connect with the patient. Sometimes just being there for the patient and listening in silence, along with being empathetic can help the patient who might be in distress. 2.At any given time my patient wants to discuss spiritual thoughts I will not push it aside but instead listen actively to what they might want to share spiritually. 3. If any patient will indicate to me any kind of spiritual belief, for example if it includes the need to pray I will encourage the patient to pray. 4 Therapeutic touches can be a form of spirituality it can be comforting to the patient, it shows warmth and therefore this shows concern for my patient. 5. Reflecting is another way that spirituality can have an impact on any life, so if I can help assist my patient to reflect on their memories of the past this will help enhance my patient’s spirituality. As health care providers we have to display a sense of sensitivity toward our patients, we have to be able to feel confident in embracing spirituality at our facilities, because after all healing isn’t just physical, its holistic and includes spiritual care.

All of these things shared make the health care provider more sensitive and so there are a few recommendations I will share for nurses to achieve these needs for their patients. First I will say accept your role as a provider of holistic care and know that spirituality can be traditional or non-traditional. Embrace it so you can be comfortable to provide the best care for your patient. Be cognizant of your own feelings of spirituality and never let it get in the way of rendering holistic care to your patients. Take time daily to reflect on your progress whether it is integrating spirituality in the work place, or if you haven’t yet started; take time to see how you can contribute to your patient’s well-being by doing so. We should always remember that spirituality begins with our selves and how we approach our everyday lives. Lets all come together as one and create an environment that respects not just our patients’ spirituality, but that of our colleagues as well. Encouraging and acknowledging women’s spiritual needs is a phenomenal way we can help with meeting the needs of women’s spiritual well being.

 

References

 

CBS news.com, Meditation, Mindfulness and Spirituality: Published June 28^th,                                                  2015,retrieved November 29^th 2015.

Condon, Marian (2004). Women’s Health: An integrated approach to wellness and  illness.                         Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

Gnosis.org. Stephan A. Hoeller (Tay Stephanus, Gnostic Bishop) The Gnostic World  View: A                    Brief  summary of Gnosticism. Retrieved November 29^th, 2015.

http:/inside astrology.net/reading. Astrology Explained: What is astrology,  published March                 8^th, 2015, retrieved November 29^th 2015.

Konecny, L.M. (2012). Meeting responses in the spiritual domain. (PowerPoint slide #10,12,                     and 13)

Religious tolerance .org, Arthur B A. Robinson, updated October 28^th 2015, retrieved                              November 29^th 2015.

The Art of Living: Yoga Benefits. Yoga journal: teaching the spiritual Essence of  yoga with                      integrity, by Dr. Swami Shankardev Saraswati. Published August 28^th 2007, retrieved               November 29^th 2015.