Spirituality and anxiety in pastoral care workers and physicians in the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic
BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic had serious impact on the well-being of health care workers and highlighted the need for resources to help hospital staff to cope with psychologically negative consequences. The purpose of this study was to investigate the potentially protective effect of spirituality...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2024-03-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychiatry |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1354044/full |
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| author | Anna C. Culmann Anna C. Culmann Andreas M. Baranowski Julia-K. Matthias Simone C. Tüttenberg Wilfried Belschner Yesim Erim Eva Morawa Petra Beschoner Petra Beschoner Lucia Jerg-Bretzke Christian Albus Susann Steudte-Schmiedgen Martin Reuter Franziska Geiser |
| author_facet | Anna C. Culmann Anna C. Culmann Andreas M. Baranowski Julia-K. Matthias Simone C. Tüttenberg Wilfried Belschner Yesim Erim Eva Morawa Petra Beschoner Petra Beschoner Lucia Jerg-Bretzke Christian Albus Susann Steudte-Schmiedgen Martin Reuter Franziska Geiser |
| author_sort | Anna C. Culmann |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic had serious impact on the well-being of health care workers and highlighted the need for resources to help hospital staff to cope with psychologically negative consequences. The purpose of this study was to investigate the potentially protective effect of spirituality, as measured by the construct of transpersonal trust, against anxiety in physicians and in hospital pastoral care workers. In addition, transpersonal trust was compared to the effects of other potential resources, namely sense of coherence, optimism, and resilience. We also explored the relationship between transpersonal trust and anxiety and how it was moderated by sense of coherence and expected a significant effect.MethodThe sample included N = 405 participants (n = 151 pastoral care workers and n = 254 physicians) who completed an online survey during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic between 20th April and 05th July, 2020, that comprised established questionnaires assessing anxiety, transpersonal trust, sense of coherence, and resilience.ResultsThere was no statistically significant negative relationship between transpersonal trust and anxiety in either profession or broken down by occupational group. Multiple regression analysis revealed that sense of coherence inversely predicted generalized anxiety, while transpersonal trust, resilience, and optimism did not. As hypothesized, the association between transpersonal trust and anxiety was moderated by sense of coherence. However, we could not confirm our hypothesis of a protective effect of transpersonal trust against anxiety.ConclusionOur results point to the significant role of sense of coherence as a protective factor against anxiety and highlight the complexity of the relationship among spirituality, transpersonal trust, and anxiety. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-25T01:00:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1d35274e562c4fc5b1d2209a1374bc2f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-0640 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-25T01:00:10Z |
| publishDate | 2024-03-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychiatry |
| spelling | doaj.art-1d35274e562c4fc5b1d2209a1374bc2f2024-03-11T05:04:42ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychiatry1664-06402024-03-011510.3389/fpsyt.2024.13540441354044Spirituality and anxiety in pastoral care workers and physicians in the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemicAnna C. Culmann0Anna C. Culmann1Andreas M. Baranowski2Julia-K. Matthias3Simone C. Tüttenberg4Wilfried Belschner5Yesim Erim6Eva Morawa7Petra Beschoner8Petra Beschoner9Lucia Jerg-Bretzke10Christian Albus11Susann Steudte-Schmiedgen12Martin Reuter13Franziska Geiser14Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Bonn, Medical Faculty and University Hospital, Bonn, GermanyDepartment of Psychology, University of Bonn, Bonn, GermanyDepartment of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Bonn, Medical Faculty and University Hospital, Bonn, GermanyDepartment of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Bonn, Medical Faculty and University Hospital, Bonn, GermanyDepartment of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Bonn, Medical Faculty and University Hospital, Bonn, GermanyDepartment of Psychology, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, GermanyDepartment of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Erlangen, GermanyDepartment of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Erlangen, GermanyDepartment of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Ulm University Medical Center, University Ulm, Ulm, GermanyDepartment of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Hospital Christophsbad, Göppingen, GermanyDepartment of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Ulm University Medical Center, University Ulm, Ulm, GermanyDepartment of Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University of Cologne, Medical Faculty and University Hospital, Cologne, GermanyDepartment of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, GermanyDepartment of Psychology, University of Bonn, Bonn, GermanyDepartment of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Bonn, Medical Faculty and University Hospital, Bonn, GermanyBackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic had serious impact on the well-being of health care workers and highlighted the need for resources to help hospital staff to cope with psychologically negative consequences. The purpose of this study was to investigate the potentially protective effect of spirituality, as measured by the construct of transpersonal trust, against anxiety in physicians and in hospital pastoral care workers. In addition, transpersonal trust was compared to the effects of other potential resources, namely sense of coherence, optimism, and resilience. We also explored the relationship between transpersonal trust and anxiety and how it was moderated by sense of coherence and expected a significant effect.MethodThe sample included N = 405 participants (n = 151 pastoral care workers and n = 254 physicians) who completed an online survey during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic between 20th April and 05th July, 2020, that comprised established questionnaires assessing anxiety, transpersonal trust, sense of coherence, and resilience.ResultsThere was no statistically significant negative relationship between transpersonal trust and anxiety in either profession or broken down by occupational group. Multiple regression analysis revealed that sense of coherence inversely predicted generalized anxiety, while transpersonal trust, resilience, and optimism did not. As hypothesized, the association between transpersonal trust and anxiety was moderated by sense of coherence. However, we could not confirm our hypothesis of a protective effect of transpersonal trust against anxiety.ConclusionOur results point to the significant role of sense of coherence as a protective factor against anxiety and highlight the complexity of the relationship among spirituality, transpersonal trust, and anxiety.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1354044/fullanxietygeneralized anxietyspiritualitytranspersonal trustsense of coherenceprotective factor |
| spellingShingle | Anna C. Culmann Anna C. Culmann Andreas M. Baranowski Julia-K. Matthias Simone C. Tüttenberg Wilfried Belschner Yesim Erim Eva Morawa Petra Beschoner Petra Beschoner Lucia Jerg-Bretzke Christian Albus Susann Steudte-Schmiedgen Martin Reuter Franziska Geiser Spirituality and anxiety in pastoral care workers and physicians in the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic Frontiers in Psychiatry anxiety generalized anxiety spirituality transpersonal trust sense of coherence protective factor |
| title | Spirituality and anxiety in pastoral care workers and physicians in the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_full | Spirituality and anxiety in pastoral care workers and physicians in the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_fullStr | Spirituality and anxiety in pastoral care workers and physicians in the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_full_unstemmed | Spirituality and anxiety in pastoral care workers and physicians in the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_short | Spirituality and anxiety in pastoral care workers and physicians in the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic |
| title_sort | spirituality and anxiety in pastoral care workers and physicians in the first wave of the covid 19 pandemic |
| topic | anxiety generalized anxiety spirituality transpersonal trust sense of coherence protective factor |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1354044/full |
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