{"id":{"repo_id":"soton","oai_identifier":"oai:eprints.soton.ac.uk:193657"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/soton/oai:eprints.soton.ac.uk:193657","repository":{"repo_id":"soton","name":"University of Southampton","base_url":"https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2"},"display":{"title":"The role of religious and spiritual belief and practice in coping and adjusting to spousal bereavement in later life.","abstract":"The death of a spouse is a distressing life event that is most common in later life. Recently, a small body of research has suggested that religion and spirituality can have a beneficial influence on bereavement outcome. The aim of the present thesis was to investigate how Christian religious/spiritual belief and practice can facilitate coping and adjustment to spousal bereavement in later life.
The present thesis reports four studies, two qualitative and two quantitative. Study 1 was a longitudinal follow-up of survivors from a previous study of spousal bereavement, and investigated experiences of longer term coping and adjustment. Results identified that participants used both religious and secular resources in adjustment and that those with a strong religious belief reported adjustment marked by the least difficulties. Study 2 focused on older adults with a strong Christian belief and aimed to identify the religious content and practice most important in coping with spousal bereavement. Interpretative phenomenological analysis revealed four main themes: benevolent religious cognition, Biblical assurances, religious ritual, and spiritual capital, that in different ways were related to meaning reconstruction. As religious ritual seemed important yet is under researched, Study 3 aimed to develop the first scale of its kind to measure religious ritual. A 35-item scale was developed, named the Importance of Religious Ritual Scale, and psychometric properties were provided including factor structure, construct validity, internal consistency reliability, and temporal reliability. Study 4 included the religious ritual scale in a cross-sectional study comparing salient religious and secular variables in predicting grief, depression, and anxiety in recently bereaved older adults. Results revealed that high importance of religious ritual was a predictor of lower grief and depression; and daily spiritual experience was a predictor of lower anxiety.
It is proposed that benevolent religious beliefs and religious scripture are used in meaningmaking processes, while religious ritual and religious/spiritual emotions are primarily used in managing and regulating grief-related affect. Findings are discussed within existing bereavement theory","abstract_html":"The death of a spouse is a distressing life event that is most common in later life. Recently, a small body of research has suggested that religion and spirituality can have a beneficial influence on bereavement outcome. The aim of the present thesis was to investigate how Christian religious/spiritual belief and practice can facilitate coping and adjustment to spousal bereavement in later life.<br/><br/>The present thesis reports four studies, two qualitative and two quantitative. Study 1 was a longitudinal follow-up of survivors from a previous study of spousal bereavement, and investigated experiences of longer term coping and adjustment. Results identified that participants used both religious and secular resources in adjustment and that those with a strong religious belief reported adjustment marked by the least difficulties. Study 2 focused on older adults with a strong Christian belief and aimed to identify the religious content and practice most important in coping with spousal bereavement. Interpretative phenomenological analysis revealed four main themes: benevolent religious cognition, Biblical assurances, religious ritual, and spiritual capital, that in different ways were related to meaning reconstruction. As religious ritual seemed important yet is under researched, Study 3 aimed to develop the first scale of its kind to measure religious ritual. A 35-item scale was developed, named the Importance of Religious Ritual Scale, and psychometric properties were provided including factor structure, construct validity, internal consistency reliability, and temporal reliability. Study 4 included the religious ritual scale in a cross-sectional study comparing salient religious and secular variables in predicting grief, depression, and anxiety in recently bereaved older adults. Results revealed that high importance of religious ritual was a predictor of lower grief and depression; and daily spiritual experience was a predictor of lower anxiety.<br/><br/>It is proposed that benevolent religious beliefs and religious scripture are used in meaningmaking processes, while religious ritual and religious/spiritual emotions are primarily used in managing and regulating grief-related affect. Findings are discussed within existing bereavement theory","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Spreadbury, J.H."],"institution":"University of Southampton","degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"doctoral","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Coleman, P.G."],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2011,"date_issued":"2011-07","date_published":"2011-07","updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:36:28Z","subjects":[],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":null,"outbound_label":null,"outbound_source":null},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Coleman, P.G."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Spreadbury, J.H."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2011-07-18"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2011-07"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.department","label":"Dc Publisher Department","values":["Psychology (pre 2011 reorg)","School of Psychology"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["University of Southampton"]},{"key":"dc:relation.isreferencedby","label":"Dc Relation Isreferencedby","values":["https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/193657/"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["doctoral"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["Ph.D."]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/193657/1/PhD_Thesis_John_Henry_Spreadbury.pdf"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The death of a spouse is a distressing life event that is most common in later life. Recently, a small body of research has suggested that religion and spirituality can have a beneficial influence on bereavement outcome. The aim of the present thesis was to investigate how Christian religious/spiritual belief and practice can facilitate coping and adjustment to spousal bereavement in later life.
The present thesis reports four studies, two qualitative and two quantitative. Study 1 was a longitudinal follow-up of survivors from a previous study of spousal bereavement, and investigated experiences of longer term coping and adjustment. Results identified that participants used both religious and secular resources in adjustment and that those with a strong religious belief reported adjustment marked by the least difficulties. Study 2 focused on older adults with a strong Christian belief and aimed to identify the religious content and practice most important in coping with spousal bereavement. Interpretative phenomenological analysis revealed four main themes: benevolent religious cognition, Biblical assurances, religious ritual, and spiritual capital, that in different ways were related to meaning reconstruction. As religious ritual seemed important yet is under researched, Study 3 aimed to develop the first scale of its kind to measure religious ritual. A 35-item scale was developed, named the Importance of Religious Ritual Scale, and psychometric properties were provided including factor structure, construct validity, internal consistency reliability, and temporal reliability. Study 4 included the religious ritual scale in a cross-sectional study comparing salient religious and secular variables in predicting grief, depression, and anxiety in recently bereaved older adults. Results revealed that high importance of religious ritual was a predictor of lower grief and depression; and daily spiritual experience was a predictor of lower anxiety.
It is proposed that benevolent religious beliefs and religious scripture are used in meaningmaking processes, while religious ritual and religious/spiritual emotions are primarily used in managing and regulating grief-related affect. Findings are discussed within existing bereavement theory"]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["text"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The role of religious and spiritual belief and practice in coping and adjusting to spousal bereavement in later life."]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Coleman, P.G."],"dc:creator":["Spreadbury, J.H."],"dc:date":["2011-07-18"],"dc:date.issued":["2011-07"],"dc:description.abstract":["The death of a spouse is a distressing life event that is most common in later life. Recently, a small body of research has suggested that religion and spirituality can have a beneficial influence on bereavement outcome. The aim of the present thesis was to investigate how Christian religious/spiritual belief and practice can facilitate coping and adjustment to spousal bereavement in later life.
The present thesis reports four studies, two qualitative and two quantitative. Study 1 was a longitudinal follow-up of survivors from a previous study of spousal bereavement, and investigated experiences of longer term coping and adjustment. Results identified that participants used both religious and secular resources in adjustment and that those with a strong religious belief reported adjustment marked by the least difficulties. Study 2 focused on older adults with a strong Christian belief and aimed to identify the religious content and practice most important in coping with spousal bereavement. Interpretative phenomenological analysis revealed four main themes: benevolent religious cognition, Biblical assurances, religious ritual, and spiritual capital, that in different ways were related to meaning reconstruction. As religious ritual seemed important yet is under researched, Study 3 aimed to develop the first scale of its kind to measure religious ritual. A 35-item scale was developed, named the Importance of Religious Ritual Scale, and psychometric properties were provided including factor structure, construct validity, internal consistency reliability, and temporal reliability. Study 4 included the religious ritual scale in a cross-sectional study comparing salient religious and secular variables in predicting grief, depression, and anxiety in recently bereaved older adults. Results revealed that high importance of religious ritual was a predictor of lower grief and depression; and daily spiritual experience was a predictor of lower anxiety.
It is proposed that benevolent religious beliefs and religious scripture are used in meaningmaking processes, while religious ritual and religious/spiritual emotions are primarily used in managing and regulating grief-related affect. Findings are discussed within existing bereavement theory"],"dc:format":["text"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/193657/1/PhD_Thesis_John_Henry_Spreadbury.pdf"],"dc:publisher.department":["Psychology (pre 2011 reorg)","School of Psychology"],"dc:publisher.institution":["University of Southampton"],"dc:relation.isreferencedby":["https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/193657/"],"dc:title":["The role of religious and spiritual belief and practice in coping and adjusting to spousal bereavement in later life."],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"dc:type.qualificationlevel":["doctoral"],"dc:type.qualificationname":["Ph.D."]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:36:28Z"}