Integration of spirituality into counseling by Indian Catholic clergy/religious counselors as related to their worldviews

• Main Author: Parakattu, Joseph Thomas
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2005
• Subjects: Counseling > Religious aspects; Spirituality > Psychological aspects; Psychology and religion; Counseling Psychology
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_doctoral/107; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/etd_doctoral/article/1106/viewcontent/CDTG003989_P.pdf
• Institution: De La Salle University

This study explored the integration of spirituality into counseling by Indian catholic clergy/religious counselors as related to their worldviews. Participants in the study were 111 (Female=56 Male=55) Indian Catholic clergy/religious counselors, 23 of them with doctoral degrees, and 88 with master's degrees. They ranged in age from 35 to 78 years (M=53) and had a mean of 13 years of practice. This study used a descriptive design using the mail survey that contained three researcher“made, construct validated scales, namely, Christian and Hindu Worldviews Scale (CHWS), Stances Regarding Spirituality-Counseling Relationship Scale (SRSCRS) and Pastoral-Secular Orientation Scale (PSOS), and open-ended questions. The data collected through multiple choice questions in the survey were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Responses obtained through open-ended questions were content analyzed and categorized. The comments given by the respondents were used, when appropriate, to substantiate the findings of the study. Findings indicate that the Indian Catholic clergy/religious counselors subscribe to both Christian and Hindu worldviews and take a basically pluralist stance regarding the role of spirituality in counseling with no clear preference for either the pastoral or the secular orientations. They address spiritual as well as secular problems in their counseling practice and use spiritual interventions along with mainstream secular therapeutic perspectives and interventions.