Empirical research on leisure and spiritual well-being: conceptualisation, measurement and findings

ABSTRACT

As a follow-up to recent chapters that concluded there is little existing evidence for a relationship between leisure and spiritual well-being, this paper reviews existing empirical research studies on leisure and spiritual well-being: their conceptualisation of spiritual well-being, methodology used, spiritual well-being measurement instruments, sample size, and the research findings. In the last 20 years, there has been an expansion of empirical research on leisure and spirituality; however, research has focused on immediate spiritual experience, not spiritual well-being. Nevertheless, 18 studies focus on leisure and spiritual well-being. All but three studies concluded that leisure was associated with spiritual well-being or contributed to spiritual well-being. Three studies also discovered that leisure could detract from spiritual well-being.

KEYWORDS:

• Leisure
• spiritual well-being
• conceptualisation
• measurement
• research

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Paul Heintzman

Paul Heintzman is a professor of leisure studies at the University of Ottawa. His research interests include leisure and spirituality, Christianity and leisure, parks, outdoor recreation and education, and the philosophy and ethics of leisure. He is author of the book Leisure and Spirituality: Biblical, Historical and Contemporary Perspectives.