Midlife transition of women religious: Common stress symptoms and stress reduction through an NLP package

• Main Author: Fernandez, Florence Joseph
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 1995
• Subjects: Monastic and religious life of women; Women > Religious life; Stress (Psychology); Middle age; Psychometrics; Stress (Psychology)—Religious aspects; Psychology; Religion
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_doctoral/734
• Institution: De La Salle University

The common stress symptoms of Filipino women religious during midlife transition are identified in this dissertation.With the symptoms established, the study investigated the effectiveness of the Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) which had three techniques. The three were the Well-Being Maximizer (WBM), Personal Power Radiator (PPR), and the Future Planner (FP). The techniques were investigated (1) singly and as (2) an NLP package. These were conducted to test their effectiveness in reducing stress in the physical, psychological, and spiritual dimensions of selected women religious in midlife transition. The instruments used were the Stress Level Inventory (SLI), State Trait Anxiety Inventory-State (STAI-S), and the Spiritual Well-Being (SWB) scale.The first part of the study was descriptive and narrative in design. The common occurring symptoms were identified through a focused interview with 30 women religious. Their ages ranged from 35 to 45 years. In part two, the case study (N=1) research design, which was replicated five times including a control client, made use of process and outcome research with pre-, post-, and delayed posttest.Process measures identified the change that occurred during the process through the post-session recall. The Unconscious Mind, among all the techniques, guaranteed to actualize the process-change in real life with the final message and triggering cues. Outcome measures - client's report, counselor's observation, SER, SLI, STAI-S, STAI-T, and SWB - indicated that the treatment was generally positive. It resulted in an improved stress reduction in all the items of physical, psychological, and spiritual dimensions. This was seen a week after the implementation of the last technique in the package as well as a month after the NLP package. The delayed posttest revealed that the improvement showed even further progress a month after the treatment package. Moreover, one week after the implementation of each technique, the subjective measures revealed that there was a difference in the effects of each technique in reducing the stress symptoms.The scores of the treatment client(s) in the posttest and the delayed posttest fell within the set criteria. The difference in the scores between the experimental client(s) and the control client in the posttest and delayed posttest indicated that the whole package of WBM, PPR, and FP reduced stress of selected women religious in midlife transition.