Association of spiritual well-being with quality of life among undergraduate nursing students

Objective:The study was conducted with the aim of determining the spiritual well-being(SWB)of nursing students and its association with quality of life(QOL).Materials and Methods:A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted with a sample size of 504 nursing students collected from January 2023 to March 2023 in the nursing institutes of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,Pakistan,using convenient sampling techniques.A Spiritual Health and Life-Orientation Measure(SHALOM)questionnaire for SWB and K-27 QOL(K-27 QOL)instrument were used for data collection that contains three parts.Results:The number of female participants was in the majority(50.4%)compared to male nurses(49.6%).The overall mean score of SWB of the students was 3.79±0.48,while the mean K-27 QOL score was 3.73±0.57.There were significant differences between the groups of gender(P=0.001),while no significant difference within the groups of semester(P=0.061)and college status(0.285).In QOL,there were significant differences within the groups of semester(P=0.000)and college status(P=0.036)while no significant difference in gender category(P=0.480).SHALOM score is positively and moderately correlated with QOL score(r=0.597,P<0.05).Conclusion:Spiritual practices are one of the important factors that are associated positively with QOL,therefore to enhance the QOL,it will require spiritual practices.

A 32-Year Systematic Review:Exploring the State of Christian Spirituality and Mental Health Research

This study reviewed scholarly articles on the relationship between Christian spirituality and mental health published in academic journals from 1980 to 2022.The review analyzed findings from 44 studies that likely used various research methods like surveys,interviews,and experiments.The results reveal a consistent link between Christian beliefs,such as faith,hope,and love,and positive mental health outcomes.Most studies focused on the therapeutic effects of Christian spirituality in alleviating mental disturbances and improving well-being.However,the review also identified gaps in the literature,including a lack of research on the relationship between Christian spirituality and mental illness,small sample sizes,and a lack of cross-cultural and cross-religious investigations.The article emphasizes the importance of addressing these limitations to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the complex relationship between mental health and spirituality.

Exploring the Intersection of Spirituality and Religion:Transcendence,Secularism,and Personal Beliefs in Contemporary Society

This paper explores the intersection of spirituality and religion,focusing on how transcendence,secularism,and personal beliefs shape contemporary spiritual practices.It examines the philosophical foundations of transcendence,the rise of existentialism,and the distinction between spirituality and religion.Secularism's role in fostering personal spirituality and reducing religious authority is discussed,alongside the psychological and societal impacts of spiritual transcendence.The paper also critiques the limitations of spirituality,emphasizing the need for a balanced approach that integrates cognitive development and mental health perspectives.

From Ancient Rituals to Modern Spirituality:The Evolution and Personalization of Religious Experience

This paper explores the evolution of religious experience from ancient nature worship and ancestor reverence to modern individualized spirituality.It examines how early spiritual practices were deeply intertwined with daily life,later becoming institutionalized through formalized religions with complex rituals and doctrines.The rise of mysticism,emphasizing personal connections with the divine,persisted alongside institutional religions.In contemporary society,the shift towards"spiritual but not religious"reflects a return to personalized spiritual paths,driven by individualism and the desire for direct,meaningful spiritual experiences.This trend's implications for both individuals and society are also discussed.

Spiritual Forests—A Nature Conservation Model of Ethnic Minority Communities in Central Viet Nam

This paper aims to analyze and evaluate a model of forest conservation and management of ethnic minority (or indigenous) people in central Vietnam, often referred to as the spiritual forest. These forests, called sacred forest or ghost forests by the ethnic minority people in Thua Thien Hue province, have existed for a long time among forest residents. However, they have recently declined, both in quality and quantity, due to various factors, including changes in society, economy, environment, and perception, among other reasons. Based on research conducted in A Luoi district, Thua Thien Hue province with household interviews, group discussions, and field surveys, we find that spiritual forest retains religious and human significance. They are also often among the last remaining natural forests left due to deforestation by human activities. The research results indicate challenges that conservation of spiritual forest may face, while giving recommendations derived from communities for sustainable forest development and conservation in the region.

Coping with Trauma:The Relationship between Religiosity,Spirituality,and Post-Traumatic Symptoms among Civilians Exposed to Ongoing Rocket-Fire

Living under ongoing shelling and missile attacks could cause a widespread of disruption of everyday life and emotional distress.Coping with such distress could be associated with the personal resources of religion and spirituality.The present study aimed to examine the relationships between religiosity and spirituality with Post Traumatic stress Disorder(PTSD)symptoms among a civilian population frequently exposed to missile and rocket threats.One hundred and twenty-four(N=124)civilian participants living within 10 km from shelling and missile attacks fired towards them,completed demographic,religiosity,spirituality,and PTSD questionnaires.The study findings demonstrate that religiosity is associated with higher levels of PTSD symptoms while spirituality is associated with lower levels of PTSD symptoms.When dividing the sample into two groupsreligious and secular,no association was found between religiosity and PTSD symptoms among the religious group,whereas among the secular group,there was a positive association.Spirituality was negatively associated with PTSD symptoms among both groups.This study may offer a significant contribution to models of intervention following continued exposure to trauma,emphasizing the importance of spiritually and sensitivity to religion while coping with PTSD symptoms.Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Poetic Craftsmanship and Spiritual Freedom:An Interview with Professor Sonia Sanchez

This is an excerpt from an interview with Professor Sonia Sanchez, one of the most famous contemporary African American poets. This excerpt demonstrates Prof. Sanchez’s efforts in and views of poetic craftsmanship. As a poet who has been experimenting with various poetic forms like the blues and jazz poems, the sonnet, and the haiku, and reshaping them into her own forms, she believes that a poet has the freedom of choosing form. For her, different forms serve different purposes, and the efforts in the innovation and renovation of forms not only serve the construction of the poem but also express the joy and freedom of writing. Musicality, embodied in the structure, writing, and typographical arrangement of her poems, is a remarkable feature, which, she believes, crosses genders and colors and serves as a means of communication among peoples. Black English, especially the urban black vernacular, is largely used in her poems to exhibit and celebrate the black existence in America and to serve the growth of humanity. Her pursuit in poetic craftsmanship registers her spiritual freedom, self-affirmation and self-pride as a female African American poet.

From Spiritual Communication to Digital Communication:Rethinking Marx’s Communication Theory in the Information Age

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels introduced the theory of spiritual communication in their influential work,The German Ideology,thereby establishing the Marxist perspective on communication.This theory has a distinct historical context,meaning,and significance.As society advances,driven by the proliferation of commodity-based economies and advancements in science and technology,humanity has entered the digital information age.The prevailing mode of communication in this era,centered around the Internet and big data,brings great convenience to society but also raises concerns about the potential alienation of both subjective and objective aspects of communication,as well as social relationships.Against this backdrop,the rethinking of Marx’s communication theory in the 21st century provides a logical framework and theoretical basis for critiquing the contemporary form of spiritual communication through the digital communication of the information age.

Factors influencing spiritual wellbeing among pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma patients receiving chemotherapy

BACKGROUND Spiritual wellbeing emphasizes optimistic and positive attitudes while selfregulating negative emotions when coping with stress.However,there have only been a few small studies of spiritual wellbeing of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma(PDAC)patients undergoing chemotherapy.The core factors influencing spiritual wellbeing in this clinical population are still unclear.AIM To identify factors influencing spiritual wellbeing among patients with PDAC receiving chemotherapy.METHODS A total of 143 PDAC patients receiving chemotherapy were enrolled from January to December 2022.Patients completed general information questionnaires including:Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-Being 12 Item Scale(FACIT-Sp-12),European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30(EORTC QLQ-C30)and Zung’s Self-rating Anxiety Scale(SAS).Independent sample t-test,one-way analysis of variance,Pearson’s correlation analysis,and multiple linear regression analysis were adopted for statistical analyses.P<0.05(two-tailed)was considered statistically significant for all tests.RESULTS Total spiritual wellbeing(FACIT-Sp-12)score was 32.16±10.06 points,while dimension sub-scores were 10.85±3.76 for faith,10.55±3.42 for meaning,and 10.76±4.00 for peace.Total spiritual wellbeing score was negatively correlated with SAS score for anxiety and with the symptom domain of EORTC QLC-C30.Conversely,spiritual wellbeing score was positively correlated with global health status and EORTC QLQ-C30 role functioning domain score.Multivariate regression analysis identified educational level,health insurance category,symptom domain,functional role domain,and global health status as significant independent factors influencing spiritual wellbeing among PDAC patients undergoing chemotherapy(R2=0.502,P<0.05).CONCLUSION Individualized spiritual support is needed for PDAC patients.Health,daily functioning,emotional,cognitive,and social function status should be taken into account to promote implementation of spirituality in nursing practice.

Symbolism and Spiritual Freedom in Yeats' Sailing to Byzantium

This paper attempts to analyze the symbolism that is embodied in"Sailing to Byzantium"and to further understand the spiritual freedom W. B. Yeats expressed in the poem. Studying the contrasts of the symbols and the eternity and holy spirit carried by Byzantium, we can understand Yeats' life philosophy, and finally reach his spiritual freedom which perpetuates itself in art.

Time-Domain Analysis of Body Freedom Flutter Based on 6DOF Equation

The reduced weight and improved efficiency of modern aeronautical structures result in a decreasing separation of frequency ranges of rigid and elastic modes.Particularly,a high-aspect-ratio flexible flying wing is prone to body freedomflutter(BFF),which is a result of coupling of the rigid body short-periodmodewith 1st wing bendingmode.Accurate prediction of the BFF characteristics is helpful to reflect the attitude changes of the vehicle intuitively and design the active flutter suppression control law.Instead of using the rigid body mode,this work simulates the rigid bodymotion of the model by using the six-degree-of-freedom(6DOF)equation.A dynamicmesh generation strategy particularly suitable for BFF simulation of free flying aircraft is developed.An accurate Computational Fluid Dynamics/Computational Structural Dynamics/six-degree-of-freedom equation(CFD/CSD/6DOF)-based BFF prediction method is proposed.Firstly,the time-domain CFD/CSD method is used to calculate the static equilibrium state of the model.Based on this state,the CFD/CSD/6DOF equation is solved in time domain to evaluate the structural response of themodel.Then combinedwith the variable stiffnessmethod,the critical flutter point of the model is obtained.This method is applied to the BFF calculation of a flyingwing model.The calculation results of the BFF characteristics of the model agree well with those fromthe modalmethod andNastran software.Finally,the method is used to analyze the influence factors of BFF.The analysis results show that the flutter speed can be improved by either releasing plunge constraint or moving the center ofmass forward or increasing the pitch inertia.

Triad-displaced ULAs configuration for non-circular sources with larger continuous virtual aperture and enhanced degrees of freedom

Non-uniform linear array(NULA)configurations are well renowned due to their structural ability for providing increased degrees of freedom(DOF)and wider array aperture than uniform linear arrays(ULAs).These characteristics play a significant role in improving the direction-of-arrival(DOA)estimation accuracy.However,most of the existing NULA geometries are primarily applicable to circular sources(CSs),while they limitedly improve the DOF and continuous virtual aperture for noncircular sources(NCSs).Toward this purpose,we present a triaddisplaced ULAs(Tdis-ULAs)configuration for NCS.The TdisULAs structure generally consists of three ULAs,which are appropriately placed.The proposed antenna array approach fully exploits the non-circular characteristics of the sources.Given the same number of elements,the Tdis-ULAs design achieves more DOF and larger hole-free co-array aperture than its sparse array competitors.Advantageously,the number of uniform DOF,optimal distribution of elements among the ULAs,and precise element positions are uniquely determined by the closed-form expressions.Moreover,the proposed array also produces a filled resulting co-array.Numerical simulations are conducted to show the performance advantages of the proposed Tdis-ULAs configuration over its counterpart designs.

Degree of Freedom Analysis for Holographic MIMO Based on a Mutual-Coupling-Compliant Channel Model

Degree of freedom(DOF)is a key indicator for spatial multiplexing layers of a wireless channel.Traditionally,the channel of a multiple-input multiple-output(MIMO)half-wavelength dipole array has a DOF that equals the antenna number.However,recent studies suggest that the DOF could be less than the antenna number when strong mutual coupling is considered.We utilize a mutual-coupling-compliant channel model to investigate the DOF of the holographic MIMO(HMIMO)channel and give a upper bound of the DOF with strong mutual coupling.Our numerical simulations demonstrate that a dense array can support more DOF per unit aperture as compared with a half-wavelength MIMO system.

Expression Forms of Spiritual Cultures in Classical Chinese Gardens

By studying close links between classical Chinese gardens and traditional Chinese cultures,it was stressed that spiritual characteristics pursued by classical Chinese gardens were inevitable components of their expression forms,which were also closely related to classical Chinese philosophy,social system and other cultural phenomena.Characteristics of classical Chinese gardens in terms of psychology were analyzed,and it was proposed that they had particular cultural connotations in the spiritual expression and appeal,that is,natural view of "human-nature oneness",etiquette culture of "coordinating with the nature by etiquette",seclusion view of "living in seclusion and pursuing a peaceful life".Concrete expressions of spiritual cultures in classical Chinese gardens were discussed,specifically,the expression of natural views was demonstrated as "respecting the nature,all creatures having its own course(Tao,way of evolution),adopting measures suiting local conditions,skillfully borrowing from other landscapes,simulating natural landscapes";as for the expression of seclusion view,it was demonstrated as the expression of seclusion cultures by inscriptions and steles,the expression of "seclusion" by implicit garden settings;etiquette and hierarchy of classical Chinese gardens were discussed from the perspective of private garden layout and residence construction.On this basis,spiritual world of ancient Chinese were further stu-died,mental patterns of Chinese were believed as the source of classical gardens,and what those hills,water,plants,architecture as well as their combinations expressed were spiritual pursuits of Chinese people.

An Analysis of the Spiritual Salvation of Adela in A Passage to India

This paper mainly analyzes the spiritual salvation of the protagonist Adela in the novel. In the early 20 thcentury, India is under the British colonial rule and Indians suffer a lot from it. India lacks autonomy and there is a wide racial gap between the British and Indians. In this context, Adela has deeply-rooted prejudice against Indians at first, whose discrimination makes her falsely accuse Aziz of attempting to rape her. However, merging into the Indian society gives Adela a chance to see the goodness of Indians, and finally her racial prejudice is eliminated.

The Research of Natural Landscape and Spiritual Development in Enoch Arden

Enoch Arden is a narrative poem by Alfred Tennyson,which turns out to be the record of the process of its hero's spiritual journey and can be interpreted from the perspectives of the description of natural landscape.

Eternal Nature: Spiritual Haven——The Function of Nature in Rip Van Winkle

Rip Van Winkle is one of the most enduring stories of Washington Irving. It is a fantasy tale about a man who somehow "stepped outside of the mainstream of life" (Chang Yao-xin, 1991: 62). Rip Van Winkle lived in a village near the Hudson River north of New York City. He was a simple, good-natured man; he was, moreover, a kind neighbor and an obedient hen-pecked husband. Yet Rip was lazy and this kept him in constant trouble with his wife. His two favorite past-times were sitting in front of the inn, chatting with his friends, and wandering through the mountains with his dog, Wolf. On one of these trips he met a strange dwarf who invited him to join him and other strange-looking dwarfs in a drinking party and a game called nine-pins, in a remote valley. Rip drank too much of beverage and fell asleep. When he woke up, he found that during just one night, twenty years had vanished and strangers were everywhere. His scolding wife had died, and his son, every bit his counterpart in appearance and personality had grown up to replace him. At last he was reunited with a married daughter and began to live a life the same as before.

The Eastern Culture and Salinger——the Revelation of Spiritual Ecology of Buddhism in the Catcher in the Rye

The rapid development of science and technology brought about fundamental doubts about the traditional values and ethics which inevitably led to a spiritual crisis.Salinger had realized that with the deepening of the industrialization and mechanization in the capitalist society,the rationality and the materialistic civilization that highly advocated by westerners have come to an extreme.Salinger turned to the east culture and hoped to seek for a way to save the west from the spiritual crisis.

Psychosocial and spiritual needs of patients with chronic diseases: validation of the Chinese version of the Spiritual Needs Questionnaire

OBJECTIVE： Even in secular societies, a small portion of patients find their spirituality to help cope with illness. But for the majority of patients, psychosocial and spiritual needs are neither addressed nor even considered a relevant factor by health care professionals. To measure such specific needs, the Spiritual Needs Questionnaire （SpNQ） was developed. The aim of this study was to validate the Chinese version of the SpNQ （SpNQ-Ch） and thus to measure psychosocial and spiritual needs of Chinese patients. METHODS： This was a cross-sectional study among 168 patients with chronic diseases who were recruited in the Changhai Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China using standardized questionnaires. We performed reliability and factor analyses, as well as analyses of variance, first order correlations and regression analyses. RESULTS： The 17-item SpNQ-Ch had a similar factorial structure as the original version with two main and three minor factors which accounted for 64% of variance, and internal consistency estimates （Cronbach＇s a） ranging from 0.51 to 0.81. Included were the 4-item scale Inner Peace Needs, the 5-item scale Giving/Generativity （with 2 sub-constructs, Praying and Sources）, and a Needs, the 5-item scale Religious Needs 3-item scale Reflection/Release Needs. In Chinese patients with cancer （63%）, pain affections （10%）, or other chronic conditions （23%）, the needs for Giving/Generativity （which refer to categories of Connectedness and Meaning） and Inner Peace Needs scored highest, while Religious Needs and the Reflection/Release Needs scored lower. CONCLUSION： The SpNQ-Ch is congruent with its primary version, and can be used in future studies with the mostly nonreligious patients from China. First findings indicate specific psychosocial and spiritual needs which should be addressed by health care professionals to support patients in their struggle with chronic illness in terms of psycho-emotional stabilization, finding hope and meaning, and thus achieving peaceful states of mind despite chronic illness.

Efficacy of the structured life review and the short-term life review on the spiritual well-beingof terminally ill cancer patients

GOALS: The aims of this study were to evaluate the treatment efficacy of the structured life review interviews and the Short-Term Life Review on the spiritual well-being of terminally ill cancer patients, in order to improve patients’ quality of life. SUBJECTS and METHODS: Participants were patients in palliative care units in Japan. In the study 1, the structured life review interviews were conducted with 12 patients. They completed the QOL scale of the SELT-M (Skalen zur Erfassung von Lebens qualitat bei Tumor- kranken–Modified Version) questionnaire before and after the interviews. In the study 2, the Short-Term Life Review was conducted with 30 patients. They reviewed their lives in the first session and they confirmed the contents in the album based on the life review in the second session. Duration of the treatment was one week. Measurement instruments included Func- tional Assessment Chronic Illness Therapy- Spiritual (FACIT-Sp). RESULTS: After the structured life review, the mean overall QOL score and Spirituality subscale score of the SELT-M significantly increased, from 2.57 ± 0.61 to 3.58 ± 1.0 (p=0.013) and 2.57 ± 0.61 to 3.14 ± 2.25 (P=0.023), respectively. After the Short-Term Life Review, the mean FACIT-Sp scores significantly increased from 16 ± 8.2 to 24 ± 7.1. CONCLUSION: Both the structured life review and the Short-Term Life Review may be effective in improving the spiritual well-being of terminally ill cancer patients, being higher feasibility for the Short-Term Life Review. We need to use these therapies understanding characteristics of each therapy.