Do religious and spiritual beliefs predict positive life changes following trauma?

(Photo provided by Jay Nero)

“I’m inspired by my own religious experiences that have helped me to get through difficult times in my life. I’ve also met many people (some of whom were first responders) who have lived through terrible circumstances and endured traumatic stressors but who have transformed their lives and grown stronger afterwards; many attributed their life changes to spiritual factors or divine intervention.” ~Jay Nero

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*In the following article, JN refers to Jay Nero, and TS refers to The Synapse;

TS: Could you briefly introduce yourself, your supervisor, the topic of your research, and the field it contributes to?

JN: My name is Jay Nero. I currently hold a Bachelor of Arts Degree with First Class Honours in Psychology with a Special Concentration in Forensic Psychology from St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. I’m currently enrolled in UNB’s Clinical Psychology program and am working towards my PhD. I am supervised by Dr. Mary Ann Campbell from UNB-SJ and I am a member of the Centre for Criminal Justice Studies at UNB-SJ.

Since joining the PhD program, I’ve completed multiple projects on topics of social support and mental health among police officers, intimate partner violence and the ability of professionals to identify risk properly, and profiles of risk around substance use among first responders.

I am currently working on my dissertation project, in which I’d like to explore the extent to which spirituality and religiosity factors predict posttraumatic growth (i.e. positive life changes after experiencing trauma) in first responders and military populations. Specifically, I’m interested in whether religiosity and spirituality uniquely promote posttraumatic growth, or whether other factors like personality, social support, and meaning making (i.e. the process of making sense of one’s experiences to regain a sense of normalcy) mediate the relationship. This research will contribute to the field of forensic psychology and to the clinical literature surrounding trauma and posttraumatic growth.

TS: What was the inspiration for your study, your research question(s), and the main results or expected results?

JN: There are a few sources of inspiration I’ve drawn from. Personally, I’m inspired by my own religious experiences that have helped me to get through difficult times in my life. I’ve also met many people (some of whom were first responders) who have lived through terrible circumstances and endured traumatic stressors but who have transformed their lives and grown stronger afterwards; many attributed their life changes to spiritual factors or divine intervention.

In terms of my work experience, I had the privilege of completing a practicum placement over the summer at CFB Gagetown, a military base. I did therapy and psychological assessment work with military members, many of whom had endured occupational stress injuries during their deployment. Working with them taught me a lot about trauma and sparked my motivation to do work that might help people heal and thrive following trauma.

I have yet to begin data collection, but my literature review thus far suggests there is some evidence that meaning making mediates the relationship between spiritual experiences and posttraumatic growth. This makes sense because meaning making is central to the cognitive processing of trauma. Specifically, meaning making restores one’s basic assumptions about the self and the world; for example, rationalizations such as “this bad event happened to me as a test”, or “I am a strong person who can overcome this.”

TS: Could you provide a brief summary of the methods/ experimental procedure used in your study?

JN: I haven’t collected my data just yet, but I do have an analysis plan in mind.

The primary analysis method will be structural equation modeling, which is a common method for gauging relationships between variables in the social sciences. For my project, the major aim of using this model is to explore whether the mediators of personality, social support, and meaning making account for the observed relationship between religiosity and spirituality and posttraumatic growth.

The variables of social support, religiosity, spirituality, and trauma experience are “latent variables”, meaning that they will not be measured directly but by their association with directly observable variables. Some examples of observable variables would be scores on established questionnaires that measure these constructs, such as the PCL-5 to gauge symptom severity, the PTGI-X to gauge post-traumatic growth, and the RCOPE to gauge religious coping.

Social support, religiosity, and spirituality will then be tested as mediators of the relationship between trauma experience and posttraumatic growth. The stronger they are as mediators, the more it would suggest that they play a meaningful role in overcoming trauma.

Fit indices, a method for gauging how well the data fits what is probabilistically expected, will be used to determine the best model for explaining the relationships in the data. Next, five hierarchical regressions will be used to assess the degree to which measures of religiosity, spirituality, and social support predict posttraumatic growth. Variance tied to trauma type within each employment group will also be accounted for to assess how consistent the relationships are across employment groups.

TS: What is the time frame for your project, and how far along are you?

JN: I’m not as far along as I’d like to be! I’m currently working on my dissertation proposal, so changes are possible after I propose the project to my committee. I’m aiming to have proposed my dissertation in the Fall so that I can start data collection and analysis afterwards. Right now, I’m writing my introduction and proposing my methods, so still in the early stages. I’m aiming to be done in 2024/2025.

TS: How would you describe your state of mind while doing research?

JN: Honestly, I often feel a mix of anxiety and curiosity when doing research. The topics are very interesting, but research work and analysis is not my strongest skill. I work in a lab with extremely competent researchers who are incredibly bright, so I often feel worried that I might reflect poorly on my lab or do poor quality work. The bright side is that there are good folks in many labs, including my own, who are willing to help out if things are challenging!

TS: What would you consider the biggest difference between studying at the graduate level versus the undergraduate level? Why did you choose to pursue graduate study in psychology?

JN: I chose to pursue graduate study in psychology because I really love the subject matter and I was interested in pursuing a career as a psychologist and therapist. A former professor expressed a vote of confidence in me, so I put my head down and pursued it.

A big difference is the workload and the style of learning – many of the classes in clinical are practically focused and about skill development. You need to take initiative and learn to manage your time well to keep up with the workload. I’d also say that the classes probably don’t wander as far in terms of breadth to cover cool, niche topics that some classes in undergrad might, as all of them are focused on preparing you with knowledge to be an effective clinician. Grad school gets more in depth with select course topics, and often stresses your ability to read literature, find, process, and share relevant info, rather than just listen to lectures and write exams. I think undergrad allows you to explore broad areas to stimulate your curiosity, whereas in grad school, you start to dig into select topics more deeply and focus on skill development.

TS: Is there anything else you wish to share about your research/ research process, or any insights/ advice you would share with undergraduate students hoping to pursue graduate study?

JN: Give it some serious thought! It’s a challenging road, but also a rewarding one. If you’re willing to spend a lot of time working towards that goal, knowing that there’s some opportunity costs, graduate school can lead to great learning and development and interesting career opportunities. I recall hearing folks say there’s no jobs in psychology when I was in undergrad; I certainly don’t think that’s true. There’s plenty of work! We need more clinicians, researchers, and other workers to inform areas of business, human resources, education, etc. Psychology can inform work across domains, and I feel it has something important to add to broadly enrich human life.

Finally, there are many paths towards a career and that does not always look like a direct path to grad school right out of undergrad. Folks in our program come from many different circumstances and at different stages of life – all of them are extremely competent. There are unfortunately way more qualified candidates than there are spots, so many qualified folks don’t get accepted. But if you’re doing well in your undergrad courses, very interested in psychology, and willing to work hard, then know that you’re likely qualified and grad school might be for you! Ultimately, only YOU will know if grad school is a good option for you. If you’re interested, try talking to grad students and asking them questions, I’m sure someone will be happy to chat with you about it and help you in your decision-making process! Ψ

Created for The Synapse by Incé Husain.