Social work is perceived as a holistic subject focusing on an individual in their environment and acknowledges the psychological emotional, physical and social facets of a person. Even so, such a definition neglects the spiritual well-being of humanity, which is a fundamental element. Oxhandler and Pargament (2014, p. 272) state that humans are not creatures with spiritual involvement, but are spiritual creatures who have a human understanding. Recent development in sociology has seen a resurgence of religion in social work, a field that was perceived to have embraced secular ideologies. The use of religion in academics is not a new phenomenon as much as it is the case in social work. Areas such as nursing, psychology, and international social work have embraced religion in their practice.
The Definition of Religion and Spirituality
Both spirituality and religion are multifaceted issues and have been given various literary definitions according to their application. These two themes are two distinct subjects that ought to be defined separately. Lis and Soly (2017, 169) describe religions as faith founded on institutions through which belief practices and procedures are acknowledged in precise traditions and practice. These practices and traditions are supported by the society and are passed to the forthcoming generations. In support of this definition, Hamren, Chungkham, and Hyde (2015, p. 610) state that religion incorporates cultural, systematic and historical elements and an individual’s spirituality. Crabtree, Husain, and Spalek (2016) add that the central idea of religion is spirituality. Berg-Weger (2016d) defines spirituality as an overarching construct, refers to transcendent beliefs and applications. Spirituality can be observed either within or outside recognized religious institutions and more comprehensive and personal. Spirituality entails a constant investment in an internal set of beliefs, morals and nurtures a feeling of completeness, peace, and relationship with other people. Mulder (2015, p 177) adds that spirituality is the internal self that defines any human and entails the relationship between the individual and the society. Social workers cannot apply the concepts of religion in practice without involving spirituality. Therefore, as much as these concepts are distinct, however, they are related in practice. To understand this occurrence, Canda (2005, p. 79) developed two ideas, which could be used by social work practitioners to understand the relevance of faith and what it implies in the application of community work. The first approach to religion is holistic and examines it in connection with the bio-psychosocial model of an individual and their respective environment. The model stipulates that religion is a crucial element of an individual; it is equally significant as the biological, social, and psychological facets of any human. Similarly, it covers the wholeness of an individual. The author argues that the religion is essential to human nature and is integrated with other elements of humanity. The second ideology is an operational framework in which religion is seen as an element of human experience, and is revealed in different manifestations of spirituality, such as spiritual drives, skills, duties and religious expressions. Hamren, Chungkham, and Hyde (2015, p. 618) used the phrase spiritual emergence to mean the practice of individual arousal to a logic of the transpersonal or transcendent purview within the framework of their mental and social progress in their existence.
Lis and Soly (2017, p. 187) acknowledge that there are different global views and religions such as atheists, who may not need any belief in spirituality or supernatural beings; however, even as a much as they do not have spirituality, they have a religion. Furness (2016, p. 179) argues that these religions and worldwide views ground individuals within particular concerns and experiences.
Application of Religion in Social Work
Religion has been present for a very long period; in fact, no historian so far has been able to trace the origin of religion. As much as it is untraceable, it has played a fundamental role in the society and has influenced individuals’ lives. Crisp (2017, p. 371) states that historically religious resources have supported social movements like labour unions, civil rights movements and peace initiatives among others. Over time, religion across cultures, beliefs, and practices have moored and natured families and communities; for instance, most families pray together, light candles and meditate as a means of turning to their faith into comfort, strength, and tranquillity in their lives. In the period of turbulence and calamities, spiritual practices and beliefs have helped humans to recover from the trauma, damage, and sorrow; for instance, the Canadian Social Work movement bases its roots in the social gospel and settlement house initiatives in the wake of the 20th
century, even though it has faced various challenges (Praglin 2004, p. 70). Recently, spirituality has taken a marginalized position and has been considered as an aspect that should be eliminated in social work. However, in its practice, social work is holistic and therefore, focuses on an individual and their environment; religion forms the basic part of this human environment. By integrating religion and allowing for the expression of an individual’s spirituality, social work supports the combination of all elements of humanity to foster a healthy and sustainable personal integrity. Not only do people realize the purpose of their lives through religion but they also built additional meaningful links with others. Lee and Hudson (2017, p. 142) advise social workers that assessing the spiritual aspects of any individual is fundamental in determining the strength and weaknesses of an individual. Capitalizing upon these strengths and weaknesses aids community worker in the process of helping their clients.
Application of Religion in Social Work in Helping Professions
The use of spirituality is apparent in other subjects such as psychology, medicine, nursing, among other social services; for instance, in nursing, spirituality, and religion has been used make a positive difference in the wellbeing of patients, suffering from different illness and help in the healing process of health concerns. Praglin (2004, p. 78) highlights the duty of spirituality in psychology by arguing that whatever the case any society might be undergoing, renewed interests in spiritual issues have influenced the field of psychology and has led to higher transparency to the consideration of religious perspectives in the application of psychology and psychotherapy.
Social workers are increasingly focusing on religion, and various sections of the field have the spiritual realm in working with their populations. Religion in the preparation of social workers has been seen as a facilitating actor to authentic relationships between clients and social work practitioners and hence giving hope and sustaining the practice. Social work literature also reflects an increased emphasis on the duty of religion in the healing course as seen in the treatment of substance addictions, psychological health, and bereavement (Al-Krenawi 2017, p. 128). Moreover, social workers are more interested in learning the knowledge about the influence of religion on the expressive and physical health of their customers and the importance of including the client’s spirituality when recommending an intervention for a client. Oxhandler and Parrish (2018, p. 682) stipulate that the advantages of having a stronger faith include an improved endurance, reduced anxiety and better coping mechanisms with stressful life events. Other social work literature also documents that some social work practitioners are deliberating the spiritual aspects of their clients’ lifestyle in their practice; for instance, Furness (2016, p. 182) stipulates that when working in the Maghreb region, a social worker should try to include traditional medicine men and clerical personnel as part of their integrated help to their clients. In such societies, it is essential to consider and integrate these elements into the daily lives of clients. Gilligan and Furness (2006, p. 620) add that religion offers an outstanding platform for social work’s sustained determination at being important to the world’s various individuals with the ability to engage different perceptions.
Gerontology is also another arena in which use of faith in the practice of social work could be significant (Silverstein and Bengtson 2018, p. 15). Oxhandler and Parrish (2018, p. 685) note that senior citizens apply religion and spirituality for coping and instrumental purposes after, their family, and governmental support. Most elderly clients seek spirituality to help them in promoting healing during ailment and bereavement. Religion has been found to be me an important factor especially in coping with one’s death or the death of a loved one. Additionally, it has been found valuable in helping individuals to alter their realities from painful existence to release from suffering. Especially for older adults, spirituality has been known to be of help and serves a protective element of against anxiety and depression, helping those in their end-life phase to find some purpose in life (Gilligan and Furness (2006, p. 631).
Religion for Ethical and Anti-Oppressive Social Work in Practise
Spirituality is a necessity that should be integrated into the process of helping clients so that social worker can deliver their services ethically and professionally. Mulder (2015) states that embracing spirituality in social work would encourage community workers to resist various societal oppressions and control political activities. Multiple values of the Social workers' code of Ethics advocate that there is need to incorporate religion into the practice of social work. Beliefs such as social integrity, dignity, and individual integrity are significant elements of a holistic view of an individual in their natural environment. Community workers ought to view their client’s wellbeing as their professional duty and therefore, should serve them without any discriminatory grounds such as religion. As much as any social work, practitioners need to observe diversity in humanity they should also regard religious diversity with the same status because religion and spiritual are integrated with culture. Essentially, social workers ought to be spiritually sensitive as much as they are sensitive to cultural diversity. Sheridan, Bullis, Adcock, Berlin, and Miller (1992, p. 190) confirm that social workers should always reflect upon the manner in which their spirituality influences their practice to provide socially and ethically accepted services. Therefore, including spirituality and religion in communitywork is a fundamental aspect, just as other aspects such as culture, beliefs, and ethics that render social work a subject with a holistic approach to helping humanity. Religious education should be consistent and in line with the occupation’s ethical principles. Even with the perceived need of including religion in the practice of Social work, some issues have arisen from the relations of belief and anti-oppressive practice mostly for students with varied sexual characteristics, expressions and orientation.
Awareness for Anti-oppressive Practice
Community workers should be aware of how spiritual domains affect anti-oppressive practice. Williams and Soydan (2005, p. 905) state that identity formation could be a significant platform for oppression by disparities of authority relations and discrimination. The authors stipulate that identity formation is complicatedly intertwined with individuals’ sense of who they are and who others are about themselves. Since religion is becoming more critical as a fundamental component of humanity that completes the wholeness of individuals, spirituality also is an integral part of identity. Social work practitioners ought to be competent in this area so that they do not involuntarily overturn their clients, or fail to meet the expectations of the society that they are serving. Society members are likely to feel more oppressed when the social worker fails to explore religion and spirituality as a fundamental component of their identity. Social workers should also examine their religious dimensions to avoid being bias because such biases could be detrimental to the service of clients just like racism and sexism. Moreover, as much as religion and spirituality could be a source of strength for individuals, these elements can be manipulated to cause oppression, dysfunction, and control to the client, and therefore it calls for community workers to master the art of integrating faith-based principles in their work to reduce the chances of causing unwanted effects.
Religion and spiritual practices are founded in a cultural context, the likelihood of social percipience and religious discrimination is possible. According to Sheridan et al. (1992, p. 193), social workers must then become culturally and spiritually sensitive to comprehend the concept of dominant cultural and spiritual beliefs of their clients and how to control these facets, without causing conflicts within the society that includes both the dominant and minority religious and cultural views. Social work practitioners must also be aware that some spiritual groups might oppress their members with an equal power dynamics. Williams and Soydan (2005, p. 909) highlighted various issues in spiritual diversity domains that are faced by women among other marginalized sexualities; for instance, as much as women are physically playing an essential role in the daily functioning of religious activities, their ideologies and writing have been largely ignored. Moreover, most faith-based beliefs embrace heterosexists and discriminately individuals of different sexual orientation. Knowledge of such dynamics is not enough, as social workers should work towards inclusivity and against social oppression. Oxhandler and Parrish (2018, p. 687) support that collective action is a viable strategy that can help in reducing the current form of abuse that is perpetuated by religion, social, economic and political factors. The notion is also supported by Williams (1995, p. 130) who suggests that collective action and changes in public policy, religious and spiritual domains, which oppress individuals, is the key mandate of social workers. Mulder (2015, p. 202) further stipulate that only when community workers are spiritually whole themselves do they have the capability to pursue aims of justice and social change for those who have been and are still oppressed. On a micro level, it is essential for community workers to recognize the mandate of religion in the lives of their client. With such understanding that religion is a personal concern, for both the society and the social worker, practitioners should monitor the client’s reactions and responses to ensure that they are getting into information that the client might prefer to remain undisclosed. It is fundamental for social workers to acknowledge that not all clients would embrace religion and spirituality and they ought to respect such choices. Moreover, community workers should also be conscientious not to transfer their own spiritual and religious beliefs or convictions into their clients; instead, they should be mindful of their abilities in respect to practising an oppressive methodology, which might not be desirable. Hamren, Chungkham, and Hyde (2015, p. 617) warn social workers to be aware of any conflicting values with spiritual and faith beliefs of their clients and to analyse their capabilities to avoid anti-oppressive practices. Moreover, community workers, who have the same beliefs with their clients, should be conscientious to avoid any urge of turning into a spiritual director rather than using their knowledge to help in solving the problems facing the client. Such issues would be unthinkable if social work curriculum, education, and training embraced spirituality and religious issues in the society.
The Relevance of Religion in Social Work Training
Gilligan and Furness (2006, p. 621) state that most people who pursue the services of social work personnel are not only looking for practical skills but are also searching for a profound meaning and connections in their life. Given the rising importance of spiritual matters, most people seeking the help of social workers want to combine and explore their religious beliefs when searching for assistance and would frequently mention some spiritual or faith-based quotations, without the involvement of the social worker. A study conducted by Furman, Benson, Grimwood, and Canda (2004, p. 768) reported that in the United Kingdom six out of the ten respondents interviewed identified themselves as Anglicans, Muslims, Buddhists, Protestants or Hindu; this indicated that most residents in the United Kingdom regard themselves as having religious affiliation. Additionally, spirituality and religion are among the typical issues clients present in therapy. Given such conditions, it then benefits social workers to be more cautious to the clients religious and spiritual needs and whatever the beliefs, feelings, and understandings of the worker, it is crucial to learn the effects of spirituality as part of the complete individual. Therefore, it is not optional for the social work curriculum to include religion in the training of social workers. The primary significance of comprising such a unit in the preparation of social workers is to give social work practitioners the adequate skills needed for handling spirituality in counselling or psychotherapy as discussed earlier.
Hamren, Chungkham, and Hyde (2015, p. 618), emphasise that just as social workers need further training to help them understand issues that are sensitive to race, ethnicity, and gender among other features of diversity. Workers also need the moral responsibility of increasing their services and understanding consumers who are focused on spiritual issues. Social workers should be educated in subjects of diversity and complexity approaches to include spiritual frameworks in the preparation of community work. It is not only enough for community workers to know their own religious and spiritual opinions and values; they must regard other religions and spirituality with respect since they are likely to meet clients of these types. Canda (2005, p. 84) argues that social work practitioners should examine their own ethical and spiritual positions because the therapeutic process involves the interactions of fundamental beliefs of therapists and clients. Even as much as religious and spiritual inclinations may be embedded within the cultural systems, the identity of clients and views could be very different from the norms of that culture and their expectations. Along with understanding spiritual and religious diversity, community workers must also understand issues of discrimination that might be linked to some beliefs and practices.
Lastly, social work practitioners need to be educated in some theories of spirituality and its relation to individuals for an understanding of how spirituality and religion affect a person and their environments; for any social worker to establish holistic intervention, they need to be educated on various tools and techniques that are essential to offer the best services possible. In a study carried out in the United States of America by Furman et al. (2004, p. 675) 75% of respondents conveyed getting slight or no education on religious conviction and spiritual domains in when being trained in various colleges.
Literature Review Matrices
Research article title, Authors, Date, Name of the peer-reviewed journal.
Social work practitioners' integration of clients' religion and spirituality in practice
Holly K. Oxhandler and Kenneth I. Pargament
A literature review, Social work, 59(3) 2014 pages. 271-279
Aims and Objectives
The article examines how faith and spirituality have been embedded in community work tutoring, exercise, and reviews.
The authors acknowledge the previous works from Canda & Furman (1999) that focused on the need of integrating religion in social work and from Pargament (2007), addressed the how spirituality could be used when offering psychotherapy. However, these past studies did not look at the importance of religion to an individual
Therefore, the study seeks to comprehend the significance of religion to an individual and not the society in general
Research Methods and Ethical Issues
The study uses secondary data from past published information. The authors use the concepts and ideologies from different authors to establish a new argument, which makes the study valid and reliable. Past studies included in this research include;
- Mattison, D., Jayaratne, S., & Croxton, T. (2000). Social workers' religiosity and its impact on religious practice behaviours. Advances in Social Work, 1 (1), 43 59.
- Sheridan, M. J. (2008). Ethical issues in the use of spiritually based interventions in social work practice: What we are doing and why. Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Social Work, 28(1–2), 99–126
- Canda, E. R., & Furman, L. D. (2010). Spiritual diversity in social work practice: The heart of helping (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
Strengths and weaknesses of the Methodology
- One major strength of using secondary data is that it helps analyses the primary data more and establish different gaps that arose from the primary study
- The major challenge is that the accuracy of the data used is not known.
Main finding
The research concludes that there is a need to integrate faith and religiousness in Social work because so far most studies have shown that there is need to undertake such actions
Implications for the study
The study stipulated that there is a need for community workers to integrate faith and spirituality in the attitude and not only in their practice
Social workers need to asses other elements such as feasibility and self-efficacy when incorporating religion and faith into exercise
Research article title, Authors, Date, Name of the peer-reviewed journal.
Spirituality, religion, and social work: An effort towards interdisciplinary conversation.
Laura J. Praglin
Journal of Religion & Spirituality in Social Work: Social Thought, 23(4), 2004, pages 67-84.
Aims and Objectives
The articles highlight some theories that could be used in explaining the importance of religion in community work. In addition, the author first analyses the historical context of religion and spirituality to highlight the importance religion in humanity.
The study aims at informing social workers on how they can professionally apply spirituality and science in Social work.
The article refers to various studies such as; Sermabeikian (1994) that proves that spirituality is a predominant human need and an element that should not misunderstand, or avoided and Gilbert (2000), who found that most community workers consider recognition of religious matters important to a holistic clinical methodology.
The current study seeks to explain how religious values can be used scientifically applied in social work.
Research Methods and Ethical Issues
The study uses secondary sources to draw its conclusion. The researcher borrows various ideologies to establish a formidable argument that seeks to advise social workers on how they could use spirituality as a scientific element in their service. Among the most influential studies used by the researcher include;
- Sheridan, M.J., Wilmer, C.M., & Atcheson, L. (1994). The inclusion of content on religion and spirituality in the social work curriculum: A study of faculty views. Journal of Social Work Education, 30(3), 363-37.
- Ebaugh, H.R. (2002). Presidential address 2001, Return of the sacred: Reintegrating religion in the social sciences. Journal of the social scientific study of religion 41:3, 385-395
- Danylchuk, L.S. (1992). The pastoral counsellor as mental health professional: A comparison of the training of AAPC fellow pastoral counsellors and licensed clinical social workers. Journal of Pastoral Care, 46(4), 382-391
Strengths and weaknesses of the methodology
The study used very many secondary sources to appoint where some sources were contradicting each other, instead of complimenting the study. Secondly authenticating the validity and reliability of the sources used in the study is not possible
On the positive side, these sources provide a broad platform of information, which the researcher uses effectively to bridge the gaps left by the secondary sources
Main Findings
The author asserts that there is no society that a social worker would work in and fail to encounter religious issues. In most cases, the social worker meets more than one religion, which most likely differs from their own. Therefore it is the mandate of social work as a subject to prepare its practitioners to work on such dynamics.
Implications for practice
The author concludes that education plays an important role in assisting students to understand the role religion, the theoretical conceptions of various beliefs and the comprehensive structure of religion. Therefore, social work students should be introduced to religion as early as possible
Research article title, Authors, Date, Name of a peer-reviewed journal.
Religion, Spirituality and Social Work. In Spirituality across Disciplines: Research and Practice:
Sheila Furness
Springer, Cham pages 179-190
Aim and Objective
This study was carried out in the United Kingdom
The author uses various cases to show how religious beliefs determine and influence decision making on the part of social workers.
The researchers argue that community workers need to acknowledge religion as a potential source of support in time of distress as a well as a source of conflict.
Unlike previous studies that highlighted the importance of religion as a whole in social work, this study majored on the importance of some religious facets such as prayers and how they help the client to cope with various situations.
Research Methods and Ethical Issues
The researcher uses secondary data; the primary data was mostly collected in the UK and the in USA. The study used the most recent studies at that time for the sake of validation and reliability.
Strengths and weaknesses of the methodology
Some sources used by the author were published more than ten years ago; the validity of such sources cannot be proved.
The study, however, gives useful insights on the gap left by the previous studies on religious as a coping mechanism
Main findings
Religion and Spirituality helps senior citizens and sick patients to cope up with their situation
Coping mechanisms are embedded in religion and the process is key to good coping mechanisms.
One major component of spirituality is prayer
The author concludes that including religion and spirituality in social work would definitely improve client outcomes. Failure to do so would lead to oppression because the client might somehow feel delineated by the social worker who is not aware of the client's spiritual needs.
Implications for practice
The article reflects on client empathy in social work. The author is concerned with how social workers would ensure that clients get the best service possible.
Research article title, Authors, Date, Name of a peer-reviewed journal.
Developing the agenda for religion and spirituality in social work.
Beth Crisp
The Routledge Handbook of Religion, Spirituality and Social Work, page 371.
Aims and Objectives
The book contains various studies on religion and spirituality from different writers, writing on different religions.
The book includes a wide range of religious and spiritual beliefs in Canada, Australia, Hong Kong, South Africa, New Zealand, Israel, Sweden, USA and UK. All these beliefs are analysed by different writers.
The book provides a broad approach to the contemporary research, new perspectives and issues surrounding religion in social work. The book introduces themes and concepts such as understanding belief and spirituality and the definition of community work, which varies from one state to the other.
The book differentiates itself from other studies by compiling various studies carried out in different countries on religion and social work. These insights give a holistic knowledge, especially to international social workers.
Research Methods and Ethical Issues
Since the book has various journals, each journal is researched using a different methodology than the other. Some studies on primary sources while others use secondary sources depending on the country that the research was conducted on, among other factors. Since the book has various studies, there is no specific research method that one can pinpoint, because every journal has a unique methodology.
Strengths and weaknesses of the methodology
There is no particular strength and weakness that one can pinpoint on the book generally unless one major on a specific study.
Main Findings
The author concludes that the theme of religion and spirituality varies across countries and nations. She concludes that in most countries the dominant religion always dictates community workers in their practice. She finally identifies various encounters and prospects for developing social work in education
The implication to the Study
This is a guidebook for most international social workers that would give them extensive information on the trends in religion and spirituality in various countries when practising social work.
Research article title, Authors, Date, Name of peer-reviewed journal
The role of religion and spirituality in social work practice: Views and experiences of social workers and students
Gilligan, Philip A. and Furness, Sheila M, 2006
British Journal of Social Work, 36(4), pp.617-637
Aims and Objectives
The authors aim at demonstrating the need for all community workers and educators to embrace religious and spiritual opinions in their training and practise.
Community workers should respond effectively to the requirements of all clients, including clients whose religious and divine principles are important. Customarily competed actions rely on the understanding and appreciating religion and spiritual beliefs
The study refers to the previous studies carried out by Sheridan and Amato-von Hemert (1999), which examined the appropriateness of specific religious and faith interventions on clients and the significance of social work training on the matter.
The current research seeks to understand the necessary importance and priority that social workers ought to give to religion and spirituality for effective service delivery.
Research Methods and Ethical Issues
The research uses both primary data and secondary data. The authors use secondary data from Sheridan and Amato-von Hemert (1999) who also carried out their own study in USA.
The researcher used a structured questionnaire to gather views from various respondents.
Major sub
