This third issue for 2024 brings together writings by researchers from Scotland, Israel, Jordan, the Philippines, Spain, the United States, and Zimbabwe, continuing this journal’s commitment to global research perspectives on religion and spirituality in social work.
The first manuscript in this issue is The intersection of self-determination theory and workplace spirituality: An innovative framework for advancing social work administration from Exxon B. Susmerano. The author explores the utility of self-determination theory in addressing worker well-being through integrating spirituality and spiritual practices in the workplace. Worker well-being is a crucial area for social work administrators to address. Vicarious trauma, moral injury, burn-out, and other factors related to the impact of the work on the worker, if left unaddressed, can lead to premature job turnover or exit from the profession at a time when the need for social workers is growing.
Next, our readers will find a research manuscript from Javier Ferrer-Aracil, Víctor M. Giménez-Bertomeu, Elena M. Cortés-Florín, and María Aragonés-González who explore Social work students’ attitudes toward religious diversity and perceptions of the relationship between religion and social work. They utilize a descriptive and explanatory quantitative design to take a closer look at social work students in Alicante, Spain and their views on religious diversity, religious freedom, and religious discrimination. Next, we have A phenomenological study into Zimbabwean-Australian clergy’s understandings of the causes and their responses to mental health problems among Zimbabwean-Australians by Richard Mafuriranwa, Lynelle Watts, and David Hodgson. In this third article, the authors explore the intersections of religious leaders and mental health-care guidance while offering some ways that clergy and mental health professionals can collaborate to improve the wellbeing of their community members.
Our fourth manuscript, The power of faith in Israeli Druze parents of children with disabilities across the lifespan by Asala Sabik, Shifaa Hamd, Khetam Asakli Faris, and Ayelet Gur explores parents of children with disabilities who are from the Israeli Druze community. The authors designed a qualitative study to conduct a thematic analysis of interviews with 21 parents exploring the role of faith, spirituality, and religion in meeting the parenting challenges they face.
Next, Linda Jane Douglas provides us with her research Ethical underpinnings and social work: A case study on the role of Buddhist compassion in Cambodian Sustainable Development. Using a grounded theory approach, this study focuses on 30 participant observations and 12 interviews related to the use of Buddhist compassion-based practices and Sustainable Development Goals in a Theravada Buddhist Pagoda in Cambodia. Insights gained from this research have broad applicability in the field of social work.
Our sixth article in this issue, Experiences of religious acceptance and rejection among currently religious and out transgender young adults in the United States comes from Marquisha Lawrence Scott, Brittanie Atteberry-Ash, Brendon T. Holloway, and N. Eugene Walls. This team utilized the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey report to explore religious rejection/acceptance of 769 transgender young adults (18–24). Variables of race, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability status, education level, and religious affiliation were utilized to explore how sociodemographic identity is correlated with a religious congregation’s acceptance or rejection of young adults who identify as transgender.
The last manuscript in this issue, Religion, spirituality and responding to guilt among Muslim women by Nada Eltaiba addresses the need for culturally responsive care for all clients by focusing on mental health care for Muslim women who reside in Western cultures. Dr Eltaiba focuses on the intersections of guilt, gender, religion, spirituality and culture.
I hope all our readers enjoy this third issue for 2024.