Abstract
The purpose of this study was to explore spirituality and its relationship to resilience for women in late life. Over thirty interviews with six women aged 80 and older provide a dataset allowing for the phenomenological investigation of spiritual resilience. Themes emerged illustrating the components of spiritual resilience. The components of spiritual resilience are having divine support, maintaining purpose, and expressing gratitude. These factors are essential to the women’s resilience and act as mechanisms that promote high levels of subjective well-being and an overall good quality of life. Essentially, participants articulate how their experiences of enduring hardships are informed by spiritual resilience.
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Acknowledgments
This article is a result of my dissertation. I would like to thank Dr. Kathryn McGrew at Miami University, Oxford, OH for her guidance, mentorship, and willingness to read countless drafts. Also, I would like to thank Dr. Linda George for her mentorship and inspiring thoughts concerning divine support. Funding: Partial support for this research was provided by NIH grant 5T32 AG00029-35 (LM).
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Manning, L.K. Enduring as Lived Experience: Exploring the Essence of Spiritual Resilience for Women in Late Life. J Relig Health 53, 352–362 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-012-9633-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-012-9633-6