Article
Effect of a spiritual retreat on perceived stress of Nigerian Catholic immigrant sisters in the United States
Mental Health, Religion & Culture
(2018)
Abstract
Stress among immigrants may be due to loss of familiar environment and experience of discrimination. Spiritual retreats may be one way to manage stressful life situations. The present study examined whether participation in a six-day spiritual retreat results in changes in perceived stress and whether changes in perceived stress depend on participant’s demographic characteristics. A total of 88 Nigerian Catholic immigrant sisters completed the Perceived Stress questionnaire pre-retreat, day three, and immediately after a spiritual retreat. Friedman Two-way ANOVA by rank was used to determine if there are mean changes in perceived stress over the three-time period, while Kruskal–Wallis ANOVA was used to determine if there were demographic differences in perceived stress. There were no differences in perceived stress at baseline, but there was a significant reduction in perceived stress at Time 2 and 3. There were no differences in perceived stress for the demographic variables except age.
Keywords
- Perceived stress,
- spiritual retreat,
- immigrant,
- catholic sisters,
- Nigerian
Disciplines
Publication Date
Spring April 19, 2018
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/13674676.2018.1447553
Citation Information
Angela Ekwonye, Verna DeLauer and Terrence Cahill. "Effect of a spiritual retreat on perceived stress of Nigerian Catholic immigrant sisters in the United States" Mental Health, Religion & Culture Vol. 21 Iss. 1 (2018) p. 49 - 64 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/angela-ekwonye/3/