This volume of articles includes scholarship representing a range of countries, religious traditions, and practice contexts. The first four articles address the role of religion or spirituality in mitigating the impacts of stressors brought on by fleeing the conflict of war, experiencing depression, and seeking support for intimate partner violence. The final article addresses perceptions of social work students about spirituality in social work practice including its place in the curriculum.
In the first article, Islam and colleagues examine the role of the Islamic faith in reducing or helping families cope with the stressors associated with resettling in the United States due to the conflict in Syria. Qualitative interviews with 10 participants reveal the strength and hope the Islamic faith provided to them in the face of extreme adversity. The interviews also share some of the challenges and fears expressed by participants as they attempt to integrate and acculturate to life in the United States. Amidst these 10 stories of hope and resilience, readers also learn about the size, scope, and context for the resettlement of Syrians in the United States.
On the topic of hope and resilience, Rose and colleagues report on their empirical study of adolescents (N = 459) that examined the role of hope as a mediator between religiosity and depression. While there is long-standing evidence that religiosity and depression have an inverse relationship in adolescence, little to no research on adolescents has examined hope as a mediating factor on mental health outcomes, particularly depression. The authors help to deepen the understanding of the relationship between religion and depression by focusing on the role of hope.
In the third and fourth articles of this volume, scholars examine intimate partner violence from two different cultural contexts. In the third article, Liao examines the experiences of 15 Taiwanese women seeking support from religious or spiritually based organizations to help them with their experiences of domestic violence. This research examined three primary areas in the help-seeking behavior of the women: (a) why they sought religious support, (b) the type of religious/spiritual support they sought, and (c) their qualitative experiences with these supports. In addition to learning about the services experiences of the participants in this study, readers will also learn more about the cultural context of Taiwan that effects marital relationships and gender roles, and may be interested in the diversity of religious expression in Taiwan. In the fourth article, Islam and colleagues explore the strengths, limitations, and considerations in using a restorative justice approach to supporting Muslim couples for whom intimate partner violence is an issue.
The final article in this volume reports findings from a study that surveyed 15,067 social work students from 12 countries to examine and compare their views on spirituality as a component of social work practice and social work education. Countries that were represented include: Australia, India, South Africa, United States, Brazil, China, Germany, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
In addition to these scholarly works, this volume includes two thoughtful reviews of books that may be familiar to or of interest to our readers. Dr. Stephen McMillin offers an insightful review of Toxic Charity: How Churches and Charities Hurt Those They Help (And How to Reverse It) by Robert Lupton, and Dr. Brian Corbin shares his perspective on Brandon Vogt’s book, Saints and Social Justice: A Guide to Changing the World. Both reviews offer useful observations that will help readers assess the usefulness of these books to their work.