Date of Conferral

2020

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Psychology

Advisor

Martha Giles

Abstract

Psychologists are ethically bound to respect the belief systems of their clients while practicing within appropriate boundaries of competence regardless of whether they hold different beliefs than their clients. Further, though there may be a disparity between clinicians’ and clients’ beliefs, most clients expect meaningful integrations of religious and spiritual beliefs, values, and traditions into psychotherapeutic interactions. To meet the needs and expectations of a religiously or spiritually oriented client base, psychologists must maintain appropriate levels of competency within this complex domain. But clinicians are hindered by inaccurate, incomplete, or inconsistent levels of education and training specific to the ethically appropriate integration of religion and spirituality into psychotherapeutic interactions. The purpose of this phenomenological study, guided by the social dominance theory, was to explore the experiences of 10 licensed psychologists to gain an understanding of how they managed the challenges presented by these deficits when working psychotherapeutically with clients who held either aligned or oppositional religious, spiritual, and nonreligious beliefs to their own. Four core themes were identified: awareness, respect, perspective, and humility which helped clarify the essence of the participants’ experiences. This study contributes to existing literature and creates positive social change by revealing greater insights into how these experienced clinicians navigated the ethical integration of religious, spiritual, and nonreligious beliefs into psychotherapeutic interactions, expanding the understanding of how educational and training deficits in this domain may be addressed in the future.

Download

Share

 
COinS