Between worlds: Experiences of doing, being, becoming, and belonging for second generation adults who disaffiliate from a new religious movement

ABSTRACT

Religion and spirituality are under-explored in occupational science and no research to date has addressed religious disaffiliation from an occupational perspective. This research explores the subjective experiences of second-generation adults (SGAs) who have disaffiliated from the new religious movement (NRM) in which they were raised, and challenges assumptions that engagement in religious practice is necessarily based on individual choice or automatically has positive impact on well-being. An auto/biographical approach was adopted and reflexive thematic analysis used to analyse secondary data from six podcast interviews with SGAs who disaffiliated from a NRM. Three main themes were identified: Transition, Doing things, and New self. Findings show the occupational impact of disaffiliation and how the interviewees experienced transition, reconstructed their identities, and found new belonging through the interrelated dimensions of doing, being, becoming, and belonging, as defined in the Pan Occupational Paradigm. The findings build upon research that considers the multidimensional relationship between these dimensions by providing a novel exploration of the experiences of people who have ended their connection with a NRM. This study highlights a need for further research into experiences of religious disaffiliation and the impact of affiliation with high-demand groups.

KEYWORDS:

• Occupational science
• cult
• identity
• transition
• self

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Correction

Religion is deeply embedded in society and, regardless of whether affiliation is claimed with any religious group, it influences people’s lives and culture (Adamczyk et al., 2021; McDougall, 2020). For those who identify as belonging to a religious organisation, affiliation will likely shape roles, routines, and daily and valued occupations; as well as delineating occupations that may be discouraged or disallowed (Eyers, 2019; K. Thompson et al., 2018). While research into religious affiliation often focuses on a positive influence on well-being (e.g., Farrar, 2001; K. Thompson et al., 2018), alternative hypotheses posit negative impact (Saroglou et al., 2009) or no effect at all (George et al., 2002), highlighting a need for further research into people’s subjective occupational experiences of religious affiliation.

The current research centres on new religious movements (NRMs), which are religious groups that have formed within the past 150 years (Chryssides, 2012) and are in tension with a country’s dominant religious organisations (Melton, 2004). Well known NRMs include Jehovah’s Witnesses, Church of Scientology, International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints, and the Unification Church. It is estimated that out of over 5,000 religious organisations active in the United Kingdom (UK), approximately 1,000 are NRMs (Inform database, 2022); however, the distinction between NRMs and dominant religions is fluid, as one country’s established religious body may elsewhere be labelled as a destructive cult (Melton, 2004).

Acceptance of religious groups is influenced by the prevailing attitudes of a country’s established institutions (Melton, 2004), with Indigenous traditions and those of minoritised cultures often dismissed, ignored, or viewed as cults (Barker, 2014; Beyers, 2010; Bromley & Melton, 2012). Once labelled as a cult, there is a tendency for mainstream media to portray stereotypes of brainwashed followers and disingenuous leaders (Laycock, 2022; Neal, 2011). Similarly, psychological and therapeutic literature tends to be underpinned by an assumption that NRMs are coercive and harmful to members (e.g., Hassan, 2020; Matthews & Salazar, 2014).

Affiliation with a NRM is likely to involve a high-demand environment with strict behavioural and moral codes, and a high level of commitment and participation that can shape members’ sense of meaning, values, identity, community, roles, and routines (Coates, 2013; Frisk, 2018). Second generation adult (SGA) is the term for those raised within a NRM, rather than choosing membership in adulthood. While first generation adult members may have experienced life outside the group, SGAs often have little awareness of alternative worldviews or lifestyles against which to temper the reality with which they are provided (Frisk, 2018); and SGA identities commonly include a sense of social, cultural, and spiritual otherness (Pratezina, 2019).

Disaffiliation is the experience of separating oneself from a religious group or organisation and can create complex social and psychological challenges (Fenelon & Danielsen, 2016; Nica, 2020) that have been compared to other major life transitions such as retirement or divorce (Aboud, 2020). The experience of transition due to life change, illness, or accident has been explored in occupational science (e.g., Luck & Beagan, 2015; Suleman & Whiteford, 2013), and the process of navigating transition has been found to elicit loss; exploration; changes in identity; and the development of new or adapted roles, routines, and occupations (Beagan & Hattie, 2014). Given that members of a NRM are often physically or ideologically separated from the outside world, those who disaffiliate can experience difficulties as they attempt to integrate into wider society and reconstruct their lives (Coates, 2010; Scheitle & Adamczyk, 2010), which raises questions around the occupational impact of this transition.

A further relevant concept is biographical disruption, which can involve disrupted identity and sense of self, and a loss of occupations that previously provided structure and meaning (Hammell, 2004; Twinley, 2018). This loss of core identities and loss or altered meaning of previously valued occupations is widely echoed in descriptions of disaffiliation experiences and, thus, has relevance to the current research. Although every experience of growing up in and disaffiliating from a NRM is unique, Letherby (2013) suggested that focusing on individual narratives can contribute to an understanding of the wider picture.

Literature Review

While a small body of literature considers religious practice or religious affiliation from an occupational perspective (e.g., Eyres, 2019; K. Thompson et al., 2018), no occupational science research was found to focus specifically on NRM affiliation and disaffiliation or experiences of religious disaffiliation more generally. Therefore, relevant literature from wider disciplines has been drawn upon to examine the experiences of SGAs who have disaffiliated from their NRM of origin. For SGAs, the process of disaffiliation may mean severing ties with one’s family and community without outside connections to support their transition (Aboud, 2020). Pratezina (2019) stated that SGAs’ identity and sense of belonging is grounded in “otherness” (p. 78), an assertion echoed by Frisk (2018) and van Eck Duymaer van Twist (2007), who both described segregated socialisation as setting NRM affiliates apart from wider society, creating “a ‘we’ and a ‘them’” (Frisk, 2018, p. 178). This sense of otherness has been found to create feelings of being alone, out of control, and “fragmented” (van Eck Duymaer van Twist, 2007, p. 270).

Aboud (2020) used interpretive phenomenological analysis to examine experiences of eight SGAs in the UK who had disaffiliated from the Jehovah’s Witnesses, while Hookway and Habibis (2013) adopted a narrative strategy to explore how six ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses in Australia negotiated the identity transition of disaffiliation during adolescence. Both studies found disaffiliation to involve a loss of identity, family, and community, and intense feelings of rejection and isolation.

Gull (2021) examined the identity reconstruction of women disaffiliating from the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints, drawing comparisons with the ‘coming out’ of those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ). Findings were presented within a five-stage model of identity transformation: “pre-coming out, coming out to select others, exploration, the re-imagining of close relationships, and identity synthesis” (Gull, 2021, p. 117). Although not specifically addressing the topic of NRMs, Beagan and Hattie’s (2014) qualitative research used an occupational perspective to explore the process of identity change for 35 participants raised in a range of religious organisations before coming out as LGBTQ. For some participants, the coming out process meant disaffiliation and the transition was found to involve identity conflict; altered meanings of spiritual or religious occupations; and a loss of family, community, roles, and routines.

More recently, McCarthy et al. (2023) examined the occupational transition of leaving a cult, defined using Lalich’s (2004) criteria: charismatic authority, transcendent belief system, system of control, and system of influence. The study was based on analysis of publicly available accounts from former members and revealed the multidimensional ways former cult members restructured occupations, communities, and identities during their transition out of cult membership. While many of the organisations included would meet the criteria of a NRM, religious disaffiliation aspects of former members’ experiences were not explored, and the researchers’ outsider perspectives were acknowledged as a potential limitation of the study.

The occupational perspective of the current study is grounded in Wilcock’s (2007) dimensions of doing, being, becoming, and belonging as “essential to survival and health” (p. 5). Examining the contribution of occupation following profound biographical disruption, Hammell (2004) proposed that these dimensions are fundamental sources of meaning. Existing literature exploring doing, being, becoming, and belonging in people’s lives includes research into experiences of people with severe mental health conditions (Newport & Clarke, 2020), mothers returning to work (Berger et al., 2022), and those transitioning from cancer patient to survivor (Martin et al., 2023). Building on Wilcock’s work, Hitch et al. (2018) proposed a Pan Occupational Paradigm (POP), based on a scoping review of contemporary understandings of these four dimensions (Hitch et al., 2014a) that further highlighted their interrelated nature (Hitch et al., 2014b). The POP provided the theoretical basis for data analysis in this study.

The current study aimed to explore SGAs’ experiences of voluntary disaffiliation from a NRM and the occupational impact of this transition by asking the research question, “What is the experience of doing, being, becoming, and belonging for SGAs who have disaffiliated from their NRM of origin?”. The aims were to explore SGAs’ subjective experience of disaffiliating from a NRM and gain understanding of the occupational impact of this transition.

Methods

Design and researcher positionality

Methodological congruence is essential between all elements of research design, including transparency around the researcher’s positionality, values, and paradigmatic assumptions (Braun & Clarke, 2019). As first author and researcher, I conducted the research in partial fulfilment of a master’s degree, under the supervision of the second author, an occupational therapy educator in the UK. The social constructionist stance with which I (first author) aligned myself for this research has its roots in phenomenology (Alvesson & Sköldberg, 2018) and understands society, systems, and identities as constructed by habits and routines that have become legitimated knowledge (Collins & Stockton, 2018). This view is reflected in discussions on the socially constructed nature of cultural religiosity (Gebauer & Sedikides, 2021; McDougall, 2020) and of NRMs as groups that develop on the margins of mainstream society (Frisk et al., 2018; Pratezina, 2019).

I approached the research with a “qualitative sensibility” (Braun & Clarke, 2021a, p. 293), seeking to uncover and interpret context-bound meaning in lived experiences (Tufford & Newman, 2012). This stance was important as ex-NRM member testimony is commonly dismissed from academic writing as unreliable, an assumption Thorn (2021) contested. Rather, interviews should be taken as a snapshot of a particular moment, observing their participants’ attitudes shifting over time, with varying levels of loss, anger, acceptance and appreciation for aspects of their experience (Frisk, 2018). This view of meaning and experience as time-bound is mirrored in descriptions of the tentative nature of knowledge (Wright-St Clair, 2015) and lifeworld as positioned within a particular, temporally situated frame (Suddick et al., 2020).

An additional consideration raised by the second author, is that reflection on self and other is in fact an essential aspect of qualitative academic writing and it is therefore not possible (or desirable) to remove the researcher from the research (Brennan & Letherby, 2017; Letherby, 2013; Liamputtong, 2007). As a SGA with my own lived experience of disaffiliating from the NRM in which I was raised – experience that continues to influence all areas of my life – I acknowledge my positionality and status as both an ‘insider’ and ‘outsider’ researching the phenomenon of interest from a distance (Eppley, 2006; Letherby, 2013; Neitz, 2013). For this research, I combined a sociologically informed auto/biographical approach with an occupational science perspective, adopting a methodology used by Twinley (2016) and Eyres (2019) to explore topics that hold personal significance to each researcher, while enabling exploration of participants’ subjective experiences of occupation.

Auto/biography

Auto/biographical research acknowledges the permeable boundary between narrator and narrated, and recognises the researcher and researched as inextricably linked (Brennan & Letherby, 2017; Howatson-Jones, 2011; Twinley, 2018). In this study, use of ‘I’ denotes the first author as researcher (Stanley, 1995), which is in accordance with auto/biography as an epistemological approach to embracing the researcher’s subjectivity (Letherby, 2013; Twinley, 2016), thus challenging traditional claims to objectivity (Brennan & Letherby, 2017). The current research is auto/biographical, maintaining a focus on others while recognising my own subjectivity in relation to the research (Brennan & Letherby, 2017).

Occupational science and methodological assumptions

Occupational science literature has explored ways in which people construct their identities in relation to the roles and occupations in which they engage (Hansson et al., 2021). More recently, consideration has been given to the meaning attributed to occupations that are not widely understood in academic literature or that may not be considered health-promoting (Twinley, 2013, 2021).

Following a scoping review into contemporary understandings of the term ‘occupational perspective’, Njelesani et al. (2014) proposed it be defined as “a way of looking at or thinking about human doing” (p. 226) and further recommended that occupational science researchers make clear the assumptions underpinning their personal occupational perspective. The Occupational Perspective of Health (OPH) framework (Hitch et al., 2014a; Wilcock, 1999) conceives that occupational engagement can be understood through the dimensions of doing, being, becoming, and belonging. I approached this research with assumptions linked to OPH, including that doing, being, becoming, and belonging are interlinked and continuously influence each other (Hitch et al., 2014b; Wilcock, 2007), and the development of a person’s occupational identity is influenced by their history of occupational engagement, acknowledging that agency and choice in relation to occupations is not always possible (Hansson et al., 2021; Hitch, 2017; Phelan & Kinsella, 2009).

Data selection

I employed secondary analysis of six podcast episodes in which each guest was interviewed by the podcast host using a format akin to a semi-structured interview. Lundström and Lundström (2021) discussed the suitability of podcasts for in-depth qualitative research, describing their content as ongoing and fluid with similarity to everyday interactions; while Hughes et al. (2020) suggested using recorded interviews in qualitative research can provide a fresh perspective on already existing data. Examples of podcasts as qualitative data include Brown’s (2019) exploration of experiences of homelessness and Morrison’s (2022) critical appraisal of the field of terrorism research. The use of podcasts is congruent with Wright-St Clair’s (2016) assertion that existing meaning can be sought in non-scientific materials such as novels, journals, and poetry.

To identify suitable podcasts, I used the Apple Podcasts app, which searches for keywords in podcast transcripts as well as titles and descriptions. The search term “new religious movements” found only podcasts about mainstream religion, so I used the keywords “cult” and “second generation”, and applied the following criteria to narrow down relevant results. First, all interviews were carried out in consistent, semi-structured format; second, interviews comprised first-hand accounts from SGAs who, as adults, voluntarily disaffiliated from the NRM in which they were raised; and third, interviews were with guests from a range of groups that met the current study’s definition of a NRM.

I identified a single podcast series that met all the above criteria and selected episodes in order of publication, including no more than one episode per NRM. The selected podcast episodes were published between July 2018 and April 2020. Rather than aiming for data saturation, the sample size was adjusted during the analysis process, adding interviews until the research question could be addressed with richness and complexity (Braun & Clarke, 2021b).

Analytic process

I conducted this research using Braun and Clarke’s (2021a) method of reflexive thematic analysis, which is rooted in my philosophical and theoretical assumptions and supports an auto/biographical approach, recognising the researcher’s role in knowledge generation and considering researcher subjectivity and reflexivity to be resources rather than endangering integrity (Braun & Clarke, 2019; Finlay 2021). I orthographically transcribed the podcast interviews and familiarised myself with the dataset before manually analysing the data.

As no existing occupational science literature was found to explore the disaffiliation experience of SGAs, I utilised the POP (Hitch et al., 2018) to facilitate an occupational perspective, taking a hybrid inductive and deductive approach to analysis (Fereday & Muir-Cochrane, 2006). I began coding instances of doing, being, becoming, and belonging, as defined by Hitch et al. (2014a), before using inductive coding to identify inherent themes within these domains, capturing key aspects of the interview data including patterns, similarities, and differences in experience. I engaged in an organic and iterative process, moving back and forth between phases of analysis until all themes and sub-themes were named and clearly defined.

Academic rigour of auto/biography

Brennan and Letherby (2017) advised that academic rigour is created in auto/biographical writing by demonstrating the researcher’s positionality and role in constructing the work. Aiming to produce rigorous, credible, and trustworthy research, I kept intellectual and personal reflective journals throughout the research process (Bott, 2010; Twinley, 2018), maintaining an awareness of my influence on, and reactions to, the research process; as well as my attitudes, values, and changes in my own perceptions (Bolton, 2010; Finlay 2008). Transparency is demonstrated through a clear presentation of my research process, including coding and theme development, and the influence of my positionality and methodology (Braun & Clarke, 2021a). Member checking was not possible due to the nature of the data; however, I sought feedback through supervision from the second author, throughout the data analysis process, to facilitate clarification of findings and guidance to reflect on my positionality.

Ethical considerations

Disaffiliation from a NRM is a potentially emotive topic and asking participants to re-live their stories could cause risk of re-traumatisation (Weiss, 2022). Although this study drew from secondary data sources, a number of ethical issues remained. Murphy (2015) described the vicarious trauma experienced as a researcher hearing participants’ stories of challenge and suffering. Sikes and Hall (2020) also discussed protecting researchers’ emotional and psychological health while researching topics that are “too close for comfort” (p. 163). Furthermore, Brennan and Letherby (2017) highlighted the narrative privilege of auto/biographical researchers, with the ability to shape our own stories in a way others featured in our research cannot. This issue can be lessened, although not entirely resolved, by treating all persons in our research as potentially vulnerable—including our own selves (Tolich, 2010). During this study, I took the following steps to protect my emotional and psychological well-being. I made extensive use of peer support in addition to supervision, and engaged in talking therapy which served as an extra space dedicated to self-care and supported my ability to actively participate in the research. It also provided an additional forum for the reflection essential to qualitative research. I aimed to avoid risk to participants and reduce risk to myself by using existing podcast interviews as secondary data in place of conducting primary research.

Podcasts, as a form of communication, create a “hyper-intimacy” (Lundström & Lundström, 2021, p. 290) and are unlikely to have been created with analysis in mind. Respecting the original intention of the interviews, I gained permission from the producer of the selected podcast to use the content in my analysis and added an extra layer of separation by keeping the podcast anonymous and using pseudonyms throughout.

Findings

Interviewee characteristics are presented in Table 1, with groups categorised using Encyclopaedia Britannica definitions (Rubinstein, 2019) and sorted by approximate time since disaffiliation. Three key themes, Transition, Doing, and New self, each with two subthemes, were generated. They highlight aspects of the interviewees’ experiences of disaffiliating from the NRM in which they were raised.

Table 1. Interviewee characteristics

Name	Gender	Country of residence	NRM Type	Years since disaffiliation
Jack	M	USA	Eastern philosophy-based	5 years
Tim	M	USA	“Scientific truth”-based	10 years
Katie	F	USA	Bible-based	12 years
Lisa	F	USA	Bible-based	16 years
Jade	F	Australia	Eastern philosophy-based	17 years
Amy	F	USA	Eastern philosophy-based	30 years

Transition

All interviewees described practical and emotional challenges encountered while starting life over, leaving the world they knew, and entering an unfamiliar space. Most interviewees described an acute awareness of difference and a loss of identity while many experienced difficulties in adapting to new roles and routines.

Culture shock

The majority of interviewees described experiences of isolation, alienation, or culture shock as they assimilated into wider society. Amy felt a “sense of being separated from the world”, while Lisa recalled the environment as unknown and disorienting.

I felt like a foreigner … kind of like a refugee. You know, you come from a completely foreign place, and you try to fit into a new culture and a new country and there was a new language I had to learn and – even though it was English … it was so different.

Many interviewees described difficulties in navigating unspoken social and cultural norms and expectations, with several describing attempts to observe and replicate others’ actions and mannerisms.

I didn’t know how to make friends … I didn’t know how to interact with other people in a way that was considered normal, so I just copied everyone around me. And I always felt like a bit of a fraud, I guess, because I was just pretending. (Jade)

For many interviewees, this isolation was perpetuated by anxiety about revealing their past. Some described hiding or attempting to stay secret, while Lisa created an alternative history to share with people.

I didn’t really talk about where I came from … I was afraid people would run the other way. I chose to create a story about where I came from and who I was … I told people … I was an only child, because I didn’t want them to know that I had siblings that were weird and occult.

Adapting

Most interviewees described challenges in adapting to their new environments and creating a normal life. Loss of core identities, beliefs, roles, relationships, and expectations impacted on their doing of everyday occupations and their choice of occupations. Amy recalled that “there were no resources with which to leave, financially, emotionally, psychologically” and Jack described feeling overwhelmed and unable to engage in everyday tasks: “I spent like nine months on my couch … unable to do anything – be that take out the trash, or more substantial things … I couldn’t think or talk about anything else”.

Katie’s previous beliefs continued to affect the choices she made and there was a sense of existential insecurity as she engaged in previously forbidden occupations.

I just tried everything they told me not to try … I smoked cigarettes, I worked on a pot farm … I had sex with a lot of people … eventually I even worked in, like, the sex industry … nothing really mattered, you know? Like, I didn’t have family, I didn’t have anyone, you know, looking for me. I didn’t have anyone caring whether or not I existed. I didn’t have any ties in the world.

In contrast to Jack and Katie, who had few connections outside their groups of origin, Lisa was able to find some stability with support from her cousins, who helped her create a foundation for her new life: “They drove me out there, they gave me a bunch of clothes and all pitched in a little money for me to start a bank account … and that’s how I got started”.

Doing

The theme of Doing evidences challenges and achievements experienced by the interviewees. Through developing new or altered roles, routines, and occupations, all interviewees described recovering their sense of potential, self-worth, and beginning to find their “place in the world”.

Education

All interviewees experienced disruption during childhood education, with only Jack achieving a high-school qualification prior to disaffiliation. Following disaffiliation, only two interviewees did not pursue further formal education. While Tim recalled this as his own choice, Katie identified a lack of support as her reason for not continuing in education and expressed regret over unfulfilled potential: “I wish I had a degree … I really wanted to learn … I wanted to be a teacher”.

Non-traditional educational backgrounds created barriers for those interviewees who did pursue higher education. Jade described “nightmares for weeks” before returning to the classroom at the age of 27, having not studied since she was 11; while Lisa described difficulties with learning in an unfamiliar way: “I didn’t know what a multiple-choice exam was … I didn’t understand how to be in a classroom … how to take notes … It took me 7 years to get my degree”.

Despite the challenges, all interviewees who continued their education found a sense of achievement, competence, and possibility. For Jade a “whole world opened up” and education offered Amy new ways to understand the world, a sense of belonging, and awareness of her previously unrecognised potential.

When I learned about the periodic table of elements, that was the most spiritual experience for me. That made sense. That was God … this whole thing of the elements graphed out and about how the orbitals of electrons around the nucleus work. And – that’s creation … then, um, learning the scientific method, learning how to speak with other people, realising that I was intelligent … I was so used to being shunned and discredited for … asking questions.

Meaningful work

All interviewees expressed pride in what they had accomplished since disaffiliating, with many finding purpose, empowerment, and meaning in new roles that provided new ways of doing as well as fresh potential for becoming and new ways to be in the world. Most interviewees shared a desire to contribute to others through what they do. For Amy and Katie this was achieved through paid employment: “I teach medical residents, I teach obstetrics, I teach nurse midwife students and it’s wonderful to have meaningful work” (Amy).

Tim and Lisa created meaning from their experience through voluntary work, each launching non-profit organisations to provide the resources and peer support they themselves had wished for.

I wanted to create a place for people to go when they first leave high control groups, where they felt at home and they were among people who had been through what they’ve been through. I wanted to give them the tools and resources that I didn’t have when I first left home. (Lisa)

Jack was studying psychology at the time of the interview and creating plans for his future: “I want to do what I did in the cult, which is – what I thought we did – was help people. And now I don’t have this crazy ideology telling me what helping people means”.

Jack’s words suggest an ongoing process of replacing the group’s beliefs with ideas he finds personally meaningful. His use of the word “cult” demonstrates how a word that is often used pejoratively may be adopted by people with NRM experience as a shorthand descriptor of their experience.

New self

All interviewees described the impact of disaffiliation on their everyday lives and sense of self, with the majority discussing the complex and ongoing process of seeking new forms of belonging and connectedness. New self reflects interviewees’ experiences of reconstructing their identities independently from their NRM of origin and finding new ways of belonging.

The great unlearning

Many interviewees described ongoing efforts to differentiate between their own selves and the influence of the NRM from which they had disaffiliated. For Amy, it involved attempts to excise ideas with which she no longer identified.

I remember … going, ‘What is wrong with me?’ … I knew that there was some part inside of me that – that I was trying to get rid of. That sense of spiritual enlightenment, sense of entitlement, and that sense of being separated from the world.

Jade pursued rebuilding her identity and sense of being through a systematic approach of questioning everything in her life, consciously examining her choices of doing.

I called it The Great Unlearning, where I had to examine everything that I did in my life and say, ‘Well, am I doing this because I want to do it or because I’ve been taught to do it?’ … going through this process of pulling apart all of the little threads that sort of made this fabric of my background.

Jack described a complex blend of loss and possibility as he faced a fresh start and contemplated how to move forward.

You know, all of a sudden, you’re starting life over, I can do anything I want. And so, when I looked back and with a sudden, completely obliterated sense of self where my previous preferences … I don’t know, were they mine? Were they the group’s? Like – who am I? What do I want?

Belonging

While interviewees described the importance of finding connection, understanding, and belonging, their narratives demonstrated complexity in achieving this. Some found support and belonging in new friendship groups. As Lisa commented, “I’ve been very blessed with incredible friends … that have been there for me … and had the ability to kind of see where I was lost and say, ‘Hey, let me show you how to do it’”.

Over time, some participants became able to own the weirdness: “I just shrug and I just say … ‘Remember, I was raised on Mars’ … It’s a whole lot easier than when I was trying to stay secret about my background” (Amy).

However, Katie described her achievements post-disaffiliation as being carried out alone: “I’m really proud of who I am and I think I’m a very strong person, but I did a lot of it without anyone”. Despite describing herself as “happy and settled” with a family of her own, Jade still encounters challenges in connecting with others: “If I’m vulnerable with other people, I really struggle with it for a couple of days afterwards … it’s a work in progress. And I think it always will be”.

Jack, the most recently disaffiliated interviewee, sought understanding in a support group for those who self-identify as ex-cult members and found a sense of mutuality with peers who shared the experience of being between worlds and cultures: “This being such a huge part of one’s experience, at least for now, it’s hard for me to get as close to other people who don’t share it”. Stating “at least for now”, Jack mirrors Jade’s use of “a work in progress”, suggesting an ongoing process of growth and becoming and a sense of potential for their future selves.

Discussion

Wilcock (2006) advised that the dimensions of doing, being, becoming, and belonging should not be seen as separate and Hitch et al. (2014b) reinforced this view of all four dimensions continuously influencing each other. However, in their scoping review into current understandings of the dimensions, Hitch et al. (2014a) found that research rarely addresses their interdependence. With analysis of my findings informed by the POP (Hitch et al., 2018), I have endeavoured to maintain awareness of this multidimensional interaction throughout the discussion.

Findings show the impact on interviewees’ states of being and belonging as they began the disaffiliation process and experienced a loss of identities and the meaningful roles they had held within the communities they left; while their becoming, or “perpetual process of growth” (Hitch et al., 2014a, p. 241), was fractured or even reversed as they attempted to negotiate unfamiliar environments and relearn how to carry out basic occupations. These experiences are mirrored by those of van Eck Duymaer van Twist’s (2007) participants who were “not sure who they were and where they belonged” (p. 271), while Aboud’s (2020) participants experienced the transition as “overwhelmingly destabilising” (p. 53). Similarly, Beagan and Hattie (2014) found significant losses involved in the occupational transition of religious community members in the process of coming out as LGBTQ, including abandonment or alteration of previously valued occupations and beliefs. The current research found experiences of disruption to life-plans, expectations, and loss of occupations that previously provided structure and meaning, which further corresponds with descriptions of biographical disruption (Hammell, 2004).

Interviewees’ disrupted states of being, belonging, and becoming influenced their choices of occupations and capacity for doing. Viewed from the perspective of the POP, it can be understood that during this stage of their transition interviewees experienced exclusion, alienation, and deprivation. One interviewee’s doing involved previously forbidden occupations, many of which were risky or illegal. Twinley (2021) asserted that occupations should not be categorised as positive or negative; rather, explored to understand the subjective meaning involved. In this light, these chosen forms of doing could be understood as a way of becoming, or exploring possibilities and pushing past previous boundaries. The interviewee’s choices could also be understood as a way of experimenting with new beliefs, seeking sources of meaning, and finding a new place in the world – in other words, ways of being.

The tendency of occupational science literature to emphasise doing above all other dimensions has been critiqued (Hayward & Taylor, 2011); however, Hammell (2020) suggested that in the face of occupational disruption, engaging in doing is important to regaining a sense of health and well-being. The current research supports Hammell’s view; for most interviewees finding ways to engage in new forms of doing appears to have been a crucial first step in rediscovering a sense of belonging, becoming, and being. Similarly, Beagan and Hattie (2014) found their participants doing new occupations or altering existing ones was central to fostering well-being during and after their occupational transition.

Interviewee narratives were not found to fit within categories of occupation such as self-care, productivity, and leisure, appearing instead to have more congruence with Hammell’s (2009) experience-based categories: “restorative, ways to connect and contribute, engagement in doing, and ways to connect the past and present to a hopeful future” (p. 110). Hitch et al. (2014a) described becoming as including elements of hope, aspiration, and envisioning of potential for the future. The findings show that occupations supporting connection and contribution were important to all interviewees and played an important role in nurturing hope for the future.

N. Thompson et al. (2003) suggested that for people whose lives have been disrupted through injury, it is necessary to find a new ‘I am’ as well as a new ‘I can’ (p. 100). Although involving a different population group, the current study found similarities in interviewees’ experiences of discovering a new sense of self. Hasselkus and Dickie (2021) acknowledged the importance of feeling part of a community, while Hammell (2009) described occupation as a way in which we engage with the world around us and contribute to others. Finding meaningful work and volunteer roles supported interviewees in developing their sense of identity and self-worth as they began to find their place in the world, as well as the elements of sharing and reciprocity contained within the dimension of belonging (Hitch et al., 2014a). Similarly, McCarthy et al. (2023) found that introspective occupations such as journaling, creative arts, and engaging in therapy supported the becoming and belonging of developing self-knowledge and connecting with others.

While much of the limited occupational science literature exploring experiences of religious practice emphasises meaning and benefits for individuals (e.g., Beagan & Etowa, 2011; Eyres, 2019; K. Thompson et al., 2018), the current research suggests religious practice may not always be based on individual choice or automatically have a positive impact on well-being. Lack of choice and autonomy over the occupations in which individuals engage can impact upon the shaping of occupational identity (Hitch, 2017; Phelan & Kinsella, 2009). Findings show several interviewees consciously engaging in a process of determining which occupations were their own preference and which were based on the influence of the NRM; thereby reconstructing their identities through questioning the occupations in their daily lives, including their significance and meaning.

Twinley (2018) suggested that despite the disturbance caused by biographical disruption, it may be also experienced as an important and life-changing reassessment of one’s values, identity, and choices. This certainly appears consistent with the findings where, despite the challenges faced, all interviewees expressed pride in their exploration, development, and what they had accomplished since their disaffiliation. Wilcock (1999) suggested that being requires time to discover oneself and “simply exist” (p. 5). Variation in interviewees’ experiences of feeling settled and stable appeared to correspond in part with the length of time since their disaffiliation and all interviewees described the process as ongoing. In later stages of disaffiliation, all interviewees appeared to be moving higher in the POP’s well-being continuum (Hitch et al., 2018); that is, towards health, well-being, happiness, and inclusivity.

Implications

This study offers a new perspective to the small but growing body of occupational science research exploring religious practice (e.g., Eyres, 2019; K. Thompson et al., 2018) and spirituality (e.g., Milliken, 2020; Pham et al., 2022). Findings demonstrate the multidimensional interaction of doing, being, becoming, and belonging in the narratives of the podcast interviewees, thereby adding to existing research using these dimensions to understand lived experience (e.g., Bratun et al., 2023; Newport & Clarke, 2020). Wilcock (1999) advised that evaluation of these dimensions should be part of standard practice, while Hitch et al. (2018) invited use of the POP within diverse occupational and cultural contexts to support understandings of the relationship between occupation and well-being. This research contributes to the evidence-base supporting use of this paradigm in practice and further provides insight into the effect of disaffiliation on health, well-being, identity, and occupations. In doing so, it adds to growing discourse around occupational experiences that are overlooked, under-explored, or have the potential to compromise health and well-being (e.g., Kiepek et al., 2019; Twinley, 2021).

Although disaffiliation from a NRM is not commonly discussed, a number of large and well-known organisations can be recognised as NRMs, making this topic relevant to occupational scientists who may encounter it in their research. Practical implications include supporting understanding for occupational therapists and other professionals working with those who may have disaffiliated from NRMs or other high-demand groups, as well as people facing other forms of biographical disruption.

Implications remain tentative as the research comprises data from only six interviews, aiming for depth of understanding rather than generalisable findings. However, we contend that the occupational impact of disaffiliation presented in the findings and subsequent discussion highlights a need for further research that takes an occupational perspective to explore lived experiences of religious disaffiliation as well as affiliation with NRMs.

Strengths and Limitations

While researcher subjectivity has traditionally been viewed as a limitation (Tufford & Newman, 2012), Braun and Clarke (2021b) advised it is key to effective reflexive thematic analysis; therefore, my lived experience of the phenomenon can be seen as a strength, one I have utilised to benefit the study. I have been transparent about my positionality and adopted an auto/biographical approach, acknowledging the “inevitable inclusion of the self” (Brennan & Letherby, 2017, p. 156) throughout. My lived experience has informed all aspects of this research including design, data analysis, and interpretation of findings. In turn, through the research process, I have gained an appreciation for Morgan’s (cited by Letherby et al., 2013) words; “In writing another’s life, we also write or rewrite our own lives” (p. 81) and moved towards “identity synthesis” (Gull, 2021, p. 115), intertwining the threads of my past and present into one cohesive self.

Finlay (2011) highlighted the need to temper the potentially powerful position of researcher with humility. As such, I have remained tentative in my discussion and implications, avoiding overstating claims or generalising individual experiences of belonging to or disaffiliating from a NRM.

The use of podcast interviews in place of primary data could be seen as a limitation of the study. Using secondary data meant findings were limited to experiences that have been publicly shared and did not allow control over interview questions or insight into interview context or recruitment. In addition, while podcast episodes were transcribed verbatim, the original interviews were edited prior to publication. It is also important to consider the voices not represented in these podcast interviews and, therefore, the findings of this study. The podcast host (also a SGA who has disaffiliated from a NRM) and interviewees each have their own personal views, perspectives, and reasons for taking part in the podcast and all narratives involved intensely life-altering experiences of disaffiliation. However, Frisk (2018) and van Eck Duymaer van Twist (2007) both found that for some SGAs, disaffiliation is experienced as a gradual drifting away from one’s former community and these less emotive stories are not present in the current research. Equally unrepresented are narratives of those who experienced disaffiliation as deeply traumatic or otherwise impactful and are not yet ready to share their stories or do not have the means with which to do so. However, my aim was not to provide generalisability; rather, to present in-depth exploration of lived experiences and to highlight a need for future research.

Conclusion

This study contributes to occupational science evidence exploring the multidimensional interaction between doing, being, becoming, and belonging, and demonstrates the significance of these dimensions in the narratives of six podcast interviewees who disaffiliated from the NRM in which they were raised. No previous research has addressed religious disaffiliation from an occupational perspective and this study adds value by exploring occupational experiences that have thus far been overlooked and challenging assumptions that religious practice automatically has a positive impact on well-being. Findings showed disaffiliation to have involved profound disruption and loss, while the process of transition involved adjustment, exploration, and development of new meaningful occupations that supported identity reconstruction. Doing was found to be influential in fostering well-being and rediscovering a sense of belonging, becoming, and being. Further occupational science research is needed into lived experiences within, or disaffiliating from, NRMs and other high-demand groups.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article was originally published with errors, which have now been corrected in the online version. Please see Correction (https://doi.org/10.1080/14427591.2024.2379930)