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During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, chaplains have played a pivotal role in patient, family member, and staff care. However, little empirical attention has been given to (a) the potential toll of frontline spiritual care on chaplains' mental health and occupational functioning as well as (b) the development of interventions that can help ameliorate these risks and promote resilience. Using a mixed-method practice-based design, we conducted a pilot study (

Qualitative studies suggest that women's attitudes and religiosity have an important role in their experience of their male partners' pornography use, but these factors have not been adequately studied. The present study examined the contributions of perceived frequency of male partners' solitary pornography use (PFREQ), women's attitudes toward their partners' pornography use, conservative religiosity, and religious commitment to women's pornography-related distress, relationship satisfaction, and sexual satisfaction in women who reported they were married to or cohabitating with men who had used pornography in the prior 3 months (median frequency = 1-2 times/week). Participants were online research panel participants (n = 625), age mean = 44[

Religious/spiritual communities in the United States hold significant differences in the relative valuing of social order and progress toward social justice, and religious/spiritual leaders play an influential role in fostering those values. This recognition has prompted calls for theological education to revise the process of student formation, equipping them to address an increasingly diverse social world and the social disparities within their larger communities. Right-wing authoritarianism tends to be associated with a preference for social order and various forms of prejudice, and negatively associated with prosocial attitudes and behaviors. However, there is a limited amount of research examining associations between right-wing authoritarianism and the prosocial constructs of social justice commitment and compassion. The present study explored the longitudinal associations between right-wing authoritarianism, social justice commitment, and compassion in a sample of graduate students from 18 Christian seminaries across North America over two and a half years of their education ( N = 580; Mage = 31.50; 47.3% female; 62.9% White). Longitudinal data analysis indicated that right-wing authoritarianism exerted a negative influence on social justice commitment and compassion, during the initial time interval which then faded over time. Results also indicated a reciprocal process among right-wing authoritarianism and social justice commitment. Practical implications centered on the potential for interventions targeting the reduction of right-wing authoritarianism to increase social justice commitment and compassion, and interventions targeting greater social justice commitment to lower right-wing authoritarianism.

Humility is a key virtue in most religious traditions, and empirical evidence links it with healthy religious leader development. Psychological evaluation often forms part of the vocational discernment process for religious leaders. We evaluated development of the clinician-rated humility scale (CRHS) within the clergy candidate psychological evaluation context at a community mental health center in the United States. In Study 1, we examined inter-rater reliability of the CRHS using three methods across 10 calibration tests with clergy candidates (female = 1, male = 9; average age = 34.6 years). Combined convenience and comprehensiveness provided the best method for obtaining the highest agreement. In Study 2, we evaluated the internal and external factor structure of the CRHS using clergy candidates ( n = 70) receiving psychological testing (29% female, 70% male; average age = 34.5 years). A final six-item version of the scale showed acceptable model fit, with evidence of a unidimensional factor structure, good internal consistency, and theoretically consistent associations with correlates. The results suggested the CRHS tapped dimensions of caring for others, openness toward personal beliefs, and self-growth. This observer-rated humility scale holds potential in conjunction with self-report measures for use in clinical assessment and research on client humility.

This article focuses on the psychology of principled nonviolent activism, specifically ideas associated with Martin Luther King, Jr.’s philosophy of nonviolence and how they are compatible with attachment theory and related areas of modern neuroscience (e.g., attachment/social neuroscience and interpersonal neurobiology). The proposed Kingian Neuro-Relational Theory (KNRT) recognizes King as having a relational development approach to social justice. KNRT offers a way of understanding King’s ideas to aid research and develop strategies for reducing many forms of societal violence, with eventual outcomes of improving mental and physical health via stress reduction, and subsequent creation of a more socially just world. KNRT is an integrative, multidisciplinary approach, incorporating the philosophy of nonviolence, attachment theory, social neuroscience, ecological systems theory, and personalistic philosophy. The theory highlights developmental and clinical implications of moving beyond tactical/pragmatic nonviolent activism (nonviolent direct action) to activism via embracing nonviolence as a principled way of life (nonviolent daily interactions). This theory is building on an earlier project that conveyed how King’s philosophy of nonviolence is related to modern–day diversity and inclusion efforts.

Although both positive psychology and religious/spiritual traditions share a common focus on human strengths and holistic development, in mental healthcare, there has been little systematic integration of these fields. In this chapter, we overview key terms and synthesize meta-analytic evidence for spiritually integrated interventions (SIIs), positive psychology interventions (PPIs), and virtue-based interventions (VBIs). Through the lens of virtue ethics, we propose that growth in virtuousness fosters flourishing, which consists of more than the absence of psychological distress and includes greater well-being, meaning in life, relational maturity, and community contribution. We detail a research prospectus guided by virtue ethics to support the development of an integrated line of applied clinical research. In particular, we call for practice-based studies that attend to diversity and equity considerations and address reductionistic misapplications of virtue (which we call virtue bypass). Finally, we discuss innovative clinical and community applications, including the utility of a dialectical and contextual perspective, the need to consider both individual and communal flourishing, and the potential for communities as intervention sites.

Scholars and practitioners have increasingly called for the development of social justice commitment, intercultural competence, and appreciation of diversity among ministers and helping professionals. In religious contexts, individual factors may contribute to differences in the degree to which spiritual leaders emphasize intercultural and social justice initiatives. Personality factors, such as virtues and specific moral commitments, predict the degree to which people report positive attitudes and demonstrate mature alterity. In this study, we explored the degree to which intellectual humility predicted mature alterity outcomes after controlling for the effects of five moral foundations (care, fairness, loyalty, authority, purity) in a sample of Christian seminary students in the United States. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed for ministry and the helping professions.

We advanced an integrative trend examining religiousness/spirituality (R/S) and flourishing using person-centered data analyses. Specifically, we tested a relational spirituality model (RSM) propos...

The present study investigated the unique contributions of relational spirituality and humility factors to seminary students’ eudaimonic well-being in a diverse sample ( n = 111) of urban seminary students. Hypotheses were developed in conversation with this research on humility, seminary student formation, and virtue ethics. As hypothesized, the relational spirituality factors of differentiation of self and quest exploration each made a significant independent contribution in predicting students’ well-being over and above impression management. In addition, humility-cultivating practices and dispositional humility were modestly correlated and each made a significant independent contribution in predicting well-being over and above relational spirituality factors and impression management. Implications for future research and for seminary student formation are discussed.

Religious leaders face numerous mental health challenges, and prior research suggests that some experience symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to work-related experiences. This study employed a diverse sample of 274 religious leaders to (a) qualitatively describe the types of work-related experiences they identify as particularly stressful or overwhelming, (b) assess the prevalence of PTSD symptoms associated with these experiences, and (c) test hypothesized associations between PTSD symptoms and narcissism. The study found that the stressful experiences reported typically involved relational conflict, having limited resources, or caring for people suffering. Over half of the sample endorsed symptoms that were above the cutoff for a clinical concern for PTSD, and PTSD symptoms were significantly associated with symptoms of both vulnerable narcissism and grandiose narcissism. Practical implications for the ongoing formation and support of religious leaders are discussed.

Spiritual and religious (S/R) competence is an important yet under-studied area of clinical multicultural competence. In a sample of clinicians who attended seminars on a specific S/R group trainin...

A comprehensive review of the practice-based evidence for spiritually integrated psychotherapy (SIP) is necessary in order to catalyze research and training in this important diversity area. In this article, we identify and synthesize key findings from 35 studies in six key areas: (a) SIPs in trauma treatment, (b) SIPs in treating eating disorders, (c) SIPs in general psychotherapy, (d) existential concerns as part of SIPs, (e) patients and therapist attitudes about SIPs, and (f) SIP supervision and training models. Building on this, we propose a culturally contextual understanding of this diversity area, drawing from the Relational Spirituality Model (RSM). Finally, we discuss best practices for spiritually responsive clinical care and offer a research prospectus to strengthen the evidence base for real-world effectiveness. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Recent research suggests that religious leaders’ humility is crucial to their own psychological wellbeing as well as the wellbeing of the communities they lead, yet little is known about how humili...

In recent years, there have been a number of studies exploring the positive and negative aspects of spirituality. While many studies have indicated spirituality has a generally positive influence in persons’ lives, people also experience negative effects associated with spiritual struggles. Studies have also suggested that spiritual practices such as prayer have the potential to mitigate the difficult and distressing aspects of spirituality. In this study, we explore the role of prayer in the relationship between disappointment in God and relational spirituality (i.e. how one relates to what they perceive to be sacred). Our results indicated that meditative prayer has a moderating effect, such that the negative relationship between disappointment in God and relational spirituality outcomes became less significant as subjects engaged in more frequent meditative prayer. Significant effects were not found for colloquial prayer or petitionary prayer.

Theological schools are well situated to create intentional cultures for the purpose of spiritual formation. Indeed, most schools of theology have this goal as an essential part of their mission as well as a requirement for continued accreditation. And yet, the measurement of spiritual formation over time is fraught with challenges. This article seeks to address some of these challenges by means of developing a meta-theory of positive change/growth which would eventually serve as a theoretical basis for the development of a generalizable and reliable measurement tool.

Cultural humility and the broader multicultural orientation approach (MCO) is important for clinicians of color as it is for White clinicians; however, the MCO framework does not address how experiences of racism and oppression impact how therapists of color think about and practice cultural humility. This article attempts to address important ways that the dialogue around cultural humility must be nuanced for therapists of color, and will provide examples of ways in which the framework for racial/ethnic minority community is fundamentally unique, both conceptually and in application: perspectives will be provided through responding to concepts within MCO framework such as “other-oriented” stance, leaning into cultural opportunities, and cultural comfort from a person-of-color lens. We contend that the traumatic effects of racism, microaggression, intergenerational trauma, and the pressures to assimilate to White culture make it difficult for therapists to practice cultural humility in the way that it is currently discussed in the literature. The authors provide potential resources for therapists of color, and explore how it is essential to have institutional and communal resources provided in White spaces.

The degree to which clinical experience is a significant factor in predicting positive psychotherapeutic outcomes is an open question. Empirical studies comparing experienced and beginning practiti...

A dismissive or avoidant attachment style can present clinical challenges in psychotherapy as the attachment style may interfere with the development of a constructive therapeutic alliance and impa...

The COVID‐19 pandemic brings to light many areas the field of counselling and psychotherapy may need to address in future research. We outline several issues stemming from or exacerbated by the pandemic and offer suggestions for future research to address the mental health needs of those impacted. Our suggestions focus on five domains: (a) the health and well‐being of helping professionals, (b) the infodemic, (c) discrimination and minority stress, (d) spiritual and existential dynamics in mental health and (e) couple and family stress and resilience. We aim to provide a multi‐systemic perspective of mental health and well‐being in the time of COVID‐19, as well as encourage current and future studies to incorporate these suggestions to advance the health and well‐being of our communities through evidence‐based treatment approaches.

Researchers have increasingly called for the examination of both mental health symptoms and well-being when providing and evaluating psychotherapy, and although symptoms and well-being are typically inversely related, these appear to be distinct constructs that may require distinct intervention strategies. Positive psychology interventions, virtue-based treatments, and psychotherapies explicitly focused on promoting well-being have emerged in response to, or perhaps in concert with, the calls for attention to symptoms and well-being. Our review of the relevant and vast research pockets revealed that these treatments demonstrated relative efficacy in promoting well-being, whereas evidence for relative efficacy when reducing symptoms was largely inconclusive, particularly in psychotherapy contexts. We organized our review around the virtue-ethics notion that growth in virtuousness fosters flourishing, with flourishing consisting of more than the absence of symptoms, and specifically, that flourishing also involves increased well-being. The lack of evidence for relative efficacy among active alternative treatment conditions in promoting flourishing may suggest equal effectiveness, and yet, this also suggests that there are yet-to-be-identified moderators and mechanisms of change and/or insufficient use of research designs and/or statistical procedures that could more clearly test this major tenet of the virtue-ethics tradition. Nevertheless, we know that evidence-based problem-focused psychotherapies are effective at reducing symptoms, and our review showed that positive psychology interventions, virtue-based treatments, and psychotherapies explicitly focused on well-being promote well-being and/or virtue development. We encourage researchers and psychotherapists to continue to integrate symptom reduction and well-being promotion into psychotherapy approaches aimed at fostering client flourishing. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).