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Abstract
This paper synthesizes theory and research findings on leisure, stress, and spiritual coping into a conceptual model of leisure-spiritual coping. Spiritual coping refers to the ways that people receive help from spiritual resources (e.g., higher power, spiritual practices, faith community) during periods of life stress, whereas leisure-spiritual coping is spiritual coping that takes place within the context of an individual's leisure. The model takes into account spiritual appraisals (e.g., attribution), person factors (e.g., religious doctrines, religious orientation), leisure-spiritual coping behaviours (e.g., sacrilization, grounding, contemplative leisure, time and space, being away), leisure-spiritual coping resources (e.g., connections with nature, others, and transcendent other), and meaning making (e.g., life purpose, transformation, growth). The model, illustrated by a case study, will be of benefit to therapeutic recreation practitioners as they work with people experiencing stress, as well as to researchers as it can guide hypothesis development and provide a framework for the investigation of specific pathways that link the various spiritual and leisure constructs.
KEYWORDS: Leisure, spiritual coping, stress, leisure-spiritual coping behaviours, leisure-spiritual coping resources, meaning-making, transformation
Leisure-Spiritual Coping: A Model for Therapeutic Recreation and Leisure Services
In a recent study on the relevance of spirituality for people with mental illness, participants identified not only public (e.g., formal religious services) and private (e.g., prayer, spiritual reading, meditation) spiritual activities as spiritual, but also recreational and social activities as spiritual (Bellamy et al., 2007). The authors noted that recreational and social activities are usually not classified as religious or spiritual and suggested that future research should explore the relationship of these recreational and social activities to spirituality and recovery for individuals with mental illness. Consistent with the authors' comments, few therapeutic recreation models reflect the spiritual dimension to life. An exception is Van Andel's (1998; see also Carter, Van Andel, & Robb, 2003) Therapeutic Recreation (TR) Outcome Model which has received considerable attention within the therapeutic recreation field (e.g., Coyle, 1998; Dieser & Peregoy, 1999; Parker & Carmack, 1998).
In Van Andel's (1998) TR Outcome Model, therapeutic recreation strives to sustain or enhance the health status, quality of life, and/or functional capacities of individuals through the use of recreation or experiential activities and processes. Van Andel included spirituality in his model "since therapeutic recreation practice seeks to address...