Spiritual Well-Being and Religion of Doctoral Students in Community University

Abstract

The spiritual well-being connects to the meaning of life in a broad way, enabling emotional balance, quality of life and development of ethical and moral values that can interfere in the biological, psychological and social issues of the individual. This study aimed to evaluate spiritual well-being in doctoral students of a community university Pelotas-RS in order to verify its association with sociodemographic factors and self-assessment of health and life. This is a cross-sectional study with convenience sample, which will examine the spiritual well-being in PhD Graduate Programs. Participants responded the questionnaire with socio-demographic factors, self-assessment of health and life and the instrument - long version of Spiritual Well-Being Scale (EBE) - which are self-administered. The t, ANOVA and Pearson correlation tests were used for the analysis. The results showed higher levels of spiritual well-being and religious in doctoral students that have any religion, perform religious practices and has frequency in activity; significant correlation was observed of religious well-being with the family income. The study shows the importance of the spiritual well-being as a protective factor in social, psychological and professional issues, especially in tense moments and overload living doctoral students.

Keywords: Spirituality, Religion, Higher Education