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a Department of Psychology, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
b Department of Social Work, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
c College of Humanities, Fine Arts and Communication, The University of Houston, TX
d Focus on the Family, Colorado Springs, CO
e Duke University Medical Center, GRECC, VA Medical Center, Durham, NC
Correspondence: Martha R. Crowther, PhD, MPH, The University of Alabama, Department of Psychology, Box 870348, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0348. E-mail: crowther{at}bama.ua.edu.
Decision Editor: Laurence G. Branch, PhD
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Abstract |
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 TOP Abstract Clarifying ConceptsRowe and Kahn's Model...Positive Spirituality and...The Role of Positive...ConclusionReferences |
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Key Words: Religion • Faith-based interventions • Churches • Older adults
The spiritual dimension of older adults has not been integrated into promising intervention models that promote successful aging. The lack of interest in issues of spirituality and aging may be analogous to the unwillingness of older people to act upon or comply with prescribed treatments. "As we find ways to improve the lives of older people and ameliorate the diseases which afflict them, we are also confronted by the reality that we are often unable to successfully utilize these discoveries" (Antonucci 2000
, p. 5).
As a means of consolidating knowledge and practice, the MacArthur Foundation offered a promising set of studies on successful aging. In summarizing the findings, Rowe and Kahn 1998 model provided scientifically grounded parameters for understanding health across the life course and goals for constructing a framework for interventions. However, despite the advantages of their model, it does not incorporate research in the area of spirituality and health that would strengthen it as a framework for promoting successful aging interventions. This article has two aims. First, to assert that spirituality is an important component of health and well-being outcomes among older adults. Second, to argue for interventions which incorporate spirituality with underserved populations as a guide to health professionals, religious organizations, and governmental agencies.
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Clarifying Concepts |
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). When descriptive adjectives like intrinsic or extrinsic are added, the problem is compounded. Religious variables in early research were typically limited to declarations of nominal religious affiliation or were totally excluded from consideration (Larson, Pattison, Blazer, Omran, and Kaplan 1986). There is a need to define and distinguish spirituality and religion so that research can proceed with greater clarity and consistency. In support of this clarification, we use definitions offered by Koenig and colleagues (Koenig, McCullough, and Larson 2000), and we define a new term—positive spirituality. The distinctions between religion, spirituality, and positive spirituality are described below and in Table 1 .
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, p. 18).
Spirituality
"Spirituality is the personal quest for understanding answers to ultimate questions about life, about meaning, and about relationship to the sacred or transcendent, which may (or may not) lead to or arise from the development of religious rituals and the formation of community" (Koenig et al. 2000, p. 18).
Positive Spirituality
Positive spirituality involves a developing and internalized personal relation with the sacred or transcendent that is not bound by race, ethnicity, economics, or class and promotes the wellness and welfare of self and others. Positive spirituality uses aspects of both religion and spirituality. It also incorporates the work of the Fetzer work groups, which suggests that religion and spirituality are multidimensional constructs (Fetzer Institute 1999). Our focus extends the contributions of the Fetzer work groups, namely, to capture health-relevant domains of religiousness and spirituality, by focusing on only positive aspects of spirituality or religion within the context of a conceptual model related to successful aging. The addition of positive spirituality to Rowe and Kahn's model of successful aging helps bridge the gap between theory and practice at a time when the Congressional and Executive branches of the government are enacting rules for collaboration between government and the faith community in serving the poor (e.g., Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act 1996).
To discuss more fully what we mean, it becomes necessary to address what positive spirituality is not. There is general agreement that certain religious beliefs and activities can adversely affect both mental and physical health (Koenig 2001). Spirituality may be restraining rather than freeing and life enhancing (Pruyser 1987). Religious beliefs have been used to justify hypocrisy, self-righteousness, hatred, and prejudice. The aspects of spirituality or religion that separate people from the community and family (e.g., hypocrisy, self-righteousness), or that encourage unquestioning devotion and obedience to a single charismatic leader, or promote religion or spiritual traditions as a healing practice to the total exclusion of any medical care, are likely to adversely affect health over time. For example, we would not suggest that Reverend Jim Jones and the Guyana mass suicide of nearly 900 people, the David Koresh cult in Waco, Texas, or the terrorist attack on September 11th that destroyed the World Trade Center Towers were guided by positive spirituality. Many Western and Eastern religious traditions emphasize an intimate relation with a transcendent force, place high value on personal relations, stress respect and value for the self, yet place emphasis on humility. The resulting emphasis on relations—relation to a transcendent force, to others, and to self—may have important mental health consequences, especially in regard to coping with the difficult life circumstances that accompany poor health and chronic disability.
Positive spirituality may reduce the sense of loss of control and helplessness that accompanies illness. Positive spiritual beliefs provide a cognitive framework that reduces stress and increases purpose and meaning in the face of illness. Spiritual activities like prayer and being prayed for may reduce the sense of isolation and increase the patient's sense of control over illness or disease. Public religious behaviors that improve coping during times of physical illness include, but are not limited to, participating in worship services, praying with others (and having others pray for one's health), and visits from religious leaders such as a chaplain, pastor, priest, or rabbi at home or in the hospital.
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Rowe and Kahn's Model of Successful Aging and Positive Spirituality |
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defined successful aging as the avoidance of disease and disability. More recently they have expanded their model to include maintenance of physical and cognitive function and engagement in social and productive activities (Rowe and Kahn 1997, Rowe and Kahn 1998), making it ready for future intervention studies (Riley 1998). However, their notion of successful aging has not been without criticisms.
Rowe and Kahn 1998 model has been criticized for not emphasizing biological research (Masoro 2001) and for not including social structure and self-efficacy (Riley 1998). We argue that the social and biological components to aging successfully are portrayed adequately within the existing model as "avoidance of disease and disability" and "active engagement with life" (Rowe and Kahn 1998, p. 39). Additionally, we agree with Rowe and Kahn 1998 that self-efficacy, as a psychological construct, properly rests within their original conceptualization of cognitive and mental fitness, and that it does not represent a separate, distinct component to successful aging.
Although we maintain that Rowe and Kahn 1998 synthesis of the literature addresses these criticisms adequately without necessary modification of their framework, their model falters systemically on two counts. First, their work does not endorse the growing body of research examining the relation between spirituality and health outcomes (see reviews by Levin 1996; Matthews and Larson 1995). Spirituality has been associated with an improvement in subjective states of well-being (Ellison 1991), a reduction in levels of depression and distress (Williams, Larson, Buckler, Heckmann, and Pyle 1991), a reduction in morbidity, and an increase in life span (Levin 1996). Second, their neglect of spirituality as a major construct handicaps their call for efficacious applications with their model. National surveys have consistently shown that the vast majority of older Americans, in particular ethnic and minority elders, report a religious or spiritual component to their lives (Princeton Religious Research Center 1987, Princeton Religious Research Center 1994).
In the following section, we introduce positive spirituality into Rowe and Kahn 1998 model, as illustrated in Fig. 1. We maintain that this expanded model will enhance the percentage of older adults who age successfully by affirming an important and positive aspect in the lives of many older Americans, while in no way disenfranchising those to whom spirituality is not important. Furthermore, the theoretical incorporation of spirituality into models of successful aging represents an important scientific acknowledgement of the research findings of the past four decades. Rowe and Kahn's model has three components: (a) minimizing risk and disability, (b) engaging in active life, and (c) maximizing physical and mental activities. The three components of the model have the following characteristics: (a) each is a part of an overall system and each is therefore temporally related to the others, (b) the variables are activating characteristics that describe both weaknesses and strengths, and (c) each must consider both individual characteristics as well as contextual factors. We argue that positive spirituality is the missing component in the model; it addresses the interrelatedness between the older adults' beliefs and values, the community, and the efficacy of interventions focused on successful aging.
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indicated that the stage is set for intervention studies to identify effective strategies that enhance wellness among older adults. We maintain, with our broadened Rowe and Kahn model, that aging is multifaceted and consists of interdependent biological, psychological, social, and spiritual processes. Further, we assume that lives are lived within a social and historical context, and that the relation between individuals and society is multidimensional and interactive. For example, positive spirituality fosters active engagement in life, through religious and/or community activities, prayer, meditation, and other practices. In addition, the literature has found an association between spiritual and/or religious activities and the reduction in disability and disease, thus allowing seniors to remain actively engaged. The intellectual acceptance of spirituality as a major facet of life will help reopen doors of opportunity with groups who have avoided or become reluctant recipients of traditional health promotion interventions. A person's spirituality is not bound by race and socioeconomic status, and its acceptance in theory will provide gerontologists the option of considering spiritual tools and paradigms in designing efficacious, evidence-based health promotion interventions that cut across traditional racial, ethnic, and economic boundaries.
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Positive Spirituality and Wellness |
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; McFadden 1996). Because of the growing recognition that religious and spiritual beliefs and practices are widespread among the American population and that these beliefs and practices have clinical relevance, professional organizations are increasingly calling for greater sensitivity and better training of clinicians concerning the management of religious and spiritual issues in assessment, treatment, and research (Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education 1994; American Psychiatric Association 1995; American Psychological Association 1992; Council on Social Work Education 1995; The Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations in 1996, 2001).
Positive Spirituality, Psychological, and Physical Health Outcomes
There are multiple psychological, social, behavioral, and physiological mechanisms by which religious involvement may impact health and speed recovery from disease. Several researchers have found that religious activity—particularly when it occurs in the setting of community such as involvement in religious worship services—and related voluntary activity is associated with longer life span (Glass, Mendes de Leon, Marottoli, and Berkman 1999; Hummer, Rogers, Nam and Ellison 1999; Oman and Reed 1998). Additionally, several studies have shown a positive association between religious involvement and better adaptation to medical illness (Ell, Mantell, Hamovitch, and Nishimoto 1989; Jenkins and Pargament 1995; Kaczorowski 1989) or to the burden of caring for those with medical illness (Keilman and Given 1990; Rabins, Fitting, Eastham, and Zabora 1990). Religious activity has also been associated with better compliance with antihypertensive therapy (Koenig, George, Cohen, et al. 1998).
Religiously committed persons are less likely to engage in health behaviors like cigarette smoking and excessive alcohol use (Koenig et al. 2000). In this way, religion may help to prevent the negative health consequences that follow these unhealthy behaviors. On the other hand, these persons are often involved in close family systems and supportive communities, which may have effects on health through other explanatory mechanisms.
Level of religious commitment also predicts speed of recovery from depression regardless of initial depression severity, an effect that is strongest in those with chronic physical disability that is not responding to medical therapies (Koenig, George, and Peterson 1998). A positive association between religious involvement and mental health in persons with physical disability has also been found in studies of hospitalized medical patients (Idler 1995; Larson 1993). Similarly, studies of mental health and substance abuse have shown that religious activity buffers against the negative effects of physical illness or stressful life events (Kendler, Gardner, and Prescott 1997). Nearly 850 studies have now examined the relation between religious involvement and some indicator of mental health. Many of the studies have been conducted in medically ill patients or older persons suffering with chronic disability. The vast majority of such studies do indeed find that religious involvement is associated with greater well-being and life satisfaction, greater purpose and meaning in life, greater hope and optimism, less anxiety and depression, more stable marriages and lower rates of substance abuse (Koenig, McCullough, and Larson 2000).
Religious Coping, Psychological, and Physical Health Outcomes
In an examination of the association between religious coping and depression, Koenig and colleagues 1995 found that religious coping may reduce the affective symptoms of depression, but appeared less effective for the biological symptoms that are probably more responsive to medical treatments. More recently, Koenig and collaborators examined the association between 21 types of religious coping and a host of physical and mental health characteristics (Koenig, Pargament, and Nielsen 1998). Offering religious help to others (e.g., praying for others) was one of the most powerful predictors of high quality of life, low depressive symptoms, greater level of cooperativeness, and greater stress-related growth. Other types of religious coping associated with positive mental health included reappraising God as benevolent, collaborating with God, seeking a connection with God, and seeking support from clergy or other church members. These coping behaviors were strongly related to stress-related growth, enabling patients to experience greater psychological growth from these stressful health problems. Coping behaviors that focused primarily on the self (self-directed coping) without depending on God, were related to greater depression, lower quality of life, and significantly lower stress-related growth. Some studies show that religious coping is also associated with improved attendance at scheduled medical appointments (Koenig 1995).
Several studies report an association between religious involvement and immune system function. Dull and Skokan 1995 developed a cognitive model to explain the relation between spirituality and the immune system. In their model they posit that spirituality is a complex system of beliefs that can have an impact on all aspects of an individual's daily life. Spiritual practices may affect a person's cognitions and subsequently impact health practices and outcomes. For example, a cancer patient with spiritual beliefs may assign a larger meaning to the illness, thus reducing the negative effects of stress on health.
Investigations in patients with AIDS show that those who are more involved in religious activities have measurably stronger immune function (Woods, Antoni, Ironson, and Kling 1999). Likewise, studies at Stanford University in patients with breast cancer show better immune functioning among women with greater religious expression (Schaal, Sephton, Thoreson, Koopman, and Spiegel 1998). The findings presented above suggest a positive association between religion and reduced levels of psychological stress and could point to physiological consequences that impact physical health as well. However, this research is in its earliest stages, with the results highly preliminary and not definitive. Prospective studies and clinical trials are needed to determine the order of the effects.
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The Role of Positive Spirituality in Health Promotion |
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suggest that health promotion makes "explicit the importance of people's environments and lifestyles as determinants of their health status" (p. 117). As a reflection of and in reaction to the aging demography of America and the world, the American Association for World Health 1999 has adopted the theme, "Healthy Aging, Healthy Living—Start Now." Practitioners have not used specified exercises for self-care consistently in the development of innovative wellness initiatives (Prochaska and DiClemente 1984; Prochaska, Velicer, DiClemente, and Rossi 1993). Only rarely and recently are the implications of these research domains considered in the development of wellness and health promotion programs (Parker, Fuller, Koenig, Bellis, Vaitkus, and Eitzen 2001).
The National Academy on an Aging Society 2000 has released information that portrays the health promotional challenge with seniors. Almost all of the at-risk conditions are associated with chronic illnesses such as hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and stroke. Though many older people are at risk for chronic conditions because of genetic predisposition, gender and age, many risk factors are related to modifiable health behaviors.
Can religious and spiritually minded organizations participate more actively in these efforts? Can they help fill the void in funding of intervention initiatives? We offer evidence to support these assertions. The role religious organizations can play and have played in providing support for aging members in the community and hospital has often been overlooked or not acknowledged in the literature on successful aging. Religious communities have the most valuable resource in society—people. By supporting community-dwelling older adults and their caregivers, religious communities could potentially reduce both the length and frequency of hospital admissions and perhaps delay nursing home placement. Religious denominations, spiritually minded nonprofit organizations, ecumenical groups, churches, synagogues, and other religious institutions represent viable sources that can be engaged in partnerships that provide health promotional and prevention opportunities to groups that are more difficult to reach (Parker et al. 2000; Parker et al. 2002).
Models of Intervention That Incorporate Positive Spirituality
The African American religious community has helped establish the connection between health promotion and spirituality. In their 20-year review of lay health advisor programs among African Americans, Jackson and Parks 1997 reviewed the growing lay health advisor movement. Among their findings was the recommendation that professional educators should rely on the collective wisdom of the community to identify, recruit, select, and train lay health advisors, and they cite a number of studies that confirm the value of seeking the collective wisdom of the African American religious community in health promotional outreach programs.
Smith, Merritt, and Patel 1997 examined the impact of education and support provided by African American churches in encouraging health promotion activities for blood pressure management. In a related program, Kong 1997 described a community-based program, which included churches, that played a valuable role in increasing the number of African American hypertensives that received treatment. There is also evidence that supports the role of ministers in providing assistance for African Americans (Okwumabua and Martin 1997; Neighbors, Musick, and Williams 1998).
Jackson and Reddick 1999 describe the Health Wise Church Project, a community outreach initiative between a diverse group of African American churches and a university health education program. The primary objective was to develop early detection and illness prevention networks among older church members. Their four-stage model for the establishment of academic–church collaborations is similar to a model used by Parker and colleagues 2000, Parker and colleagues 2001, which adopted the Rowe and Kahn model of successful aging with the addition of positive spirituality. As illustrated in Fig. 2, we have taken the Parker and colleagues model and adapted it for use with faith-based and non–faith-based organizations. This model is a unifying theoretical framework that fosters interdisciplinary thinking as well as program development and research in the area of health promotion. The model demonstrates how prevention information can be disseminated to older adults by gaining access to community organizations. The inclusion of both faith and non–faith-based organizations captures older persons who consider themselves spiritual but do not associate with organized religion.
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). By interacting with older adults through faith and non–faith-based organizations as proposed in the model, the more traditional biomedical models that accentuate the physician's responsibility to treat disease are transformed to an ideal in which individuals are increasingly responsible for optimizing their health by attending to the quality of their self-care (Hooyman and Kiyak 1999). Faith and non–faith-based organizations can work across denominational and racial boundaries in conjunction with public and private health care providers and academia and research organizations to forge partnerships. These partnerships can provide the impetus and resources necessary for communities to organize conferences, programs, or workshops that promote successful aging. This model symbolizes the potential of community partnerships in addressing institutional forms of diversity that limit outreach with disadvantaged groups. The unifying framework proposed marks a needed reversal in the trend towards separation of spirituality, organized religion, non–faith-based institutions, academia, and health care professionals that has occurred over the past several years.
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Conclusion |
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TOPAbstractClarifying ConceptsRowe and Kahn's Model...Positive Spirituality and...The Role of Positive...ConclusionReferences |
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model of successful aging, we offer evidence to include a conceptually distinct category—positive spirituality. The incorporation of positive spirituality into Rowe and Kahn's model of successful aging helps underscore the importance of this area in self-health care. We maintain that all interventions should be sensitive to the diversity of Americans' religious and spiritual beliefs, attitudes, and practices, and spiritual or religious interventions should only be offered with permission, respect, and sensitivity. Any intervention using positive spirituality should be patient- and not caregiver-centered. The health care provider must honor the patient's autonomy, follow the patients' lead and needs, and use permission, respect, wisdom, and sensitivity. We look forward to the continued growth of research as well as more fine-tuning of the implications for interventions.
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Acknowledgments |
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Received for publication September 5, 2001. Accepted for publication April 15, 2002.
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104, 110 Stat. 2105.This article has been cited by other articles:
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  J. M. Hilton, K. Kopera-Frye, and A. Krave Successful Aging From the Perspective of Family Caregivers The Family Journal, January 1, 2009; 17(1): 39 - 50. [Abstract] [PDF]
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 N. C. Franklin and C. A. Tate Lifestyle and Successful Aging: An Overview American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, January 1, 2009; 3(1): 6 - 11. [Abstract] [PDF]
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D. L. Klemmack, L. L. Roff, M. W. Parker, H. G. Koenig, P. Sawyer, and R. M. Allman A Cluster Analysis Typology of Religiousness/Spirituality Among Older Adults Research on Aging, March 1, 2007; 29(2): 163 - 183. [Abstract] [PDF]
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