Spirituality as a Resilience Resource in Adversity
Qualitative and mixed-methods reviews describe spirituality as a coping resource across bereavement, end-of-life care, forced migration, illness and disaster; an umbrella review identified meaning-making, spiritual struggle and intervention as pathways with small-to-moderate effects (Asgari 2026); one meta-analysis found no genuine growth for meaning and spirituality after major life events (Mangelsdorf 2018).
What the evidence says
The sources are systematic reviews of spirituality in adversity, one a qualitative meta-ethnography and one of quantitative and qualitative studies, plus one umbrella review and one meta-analysis of growth. Jackson 2026 reports spirituality associated with coping, acceptance, meaning-making and hope for parents at a child's end of life; Brelsford 2024 reports better psychological and well-being outcomes for neonatal-intensive-care parents when psychological and spiritual components were included; Aya-Roa 2025 reports five of six studies finding a positive relationship between spirituality and caregiver quality of life; Chyczij 2026 reports higher spiritual well-being and adaptive religious coping associated with lower depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress in vulnerable women, with negative religious coping linked to worse outcomes; Aten 2019 reports religion and spirituality generally leading to positive outcomes among disaster survivors, with benefits depending on how faith is engaged; Zhang 2021 reports spiritual fortitude associated with higher meaning and perceived post-traumatic growth; Hermaszewska 2022 and Tippens 2023 report purpose in life and maintenance of culture and spirituality among the sources of resilience for forced migrants, and Posselt 2018 identified enablers of well-being for refugees; Bartone 2019 reports peer support beneficial to bereaved survivors. Asgari 2026 (umbrella review) identified meaning-making, spiritual struggle and intervention as three psycho-spiritual pathways to post-adversity well-being, with small-to-moderate effect sizes (for example d = 0.42 for depression) that were inconsistently reported. Mangelsdorf 2018 (meta-analysis) found no genuine growth for meaning and spirituality after major life events and concludes that growth does not require suffering. This entry is framed secularly and endorses no belief; it does not treat trauma or grief.
- Myth: Suffering reliably produces spiritual growth. Actually: Mangelsdorf 2018 found no genuine growth for meaning and spirituality after major life events, while Zhang 2021 reports spiritual fortitude associated with perceived post-traumatic growth.
- Does not diagnose, treat, or cure any disease or injury
- Not a substitute for individualized medical or physical-therapy advice
- Results vary between individuals; no guaranteed outcome
- Agreement
- Direction recorded for 0 of 12 sources; not yet recorded for the rest.
- The claim's outcome
- Outcome not yet recorded
- Certainty
- No source states a certainty rating.
What each source measured and concluded (12)
- What it measured
- Benefits of peer support services (grief symptoms, well-being, personal growth)
- How it was read
- screened only, not extracted
- What the review says it includes
- Systematic review
- Studies and participants, as stated
- 32 studies
- What it measured
- Genuine posttraumatic/postecstatic growth in subdomains of psychological well-being
- How it was read
- screened only, not extracted
- What the review says it includes
- Systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal studies
- Studies and participants, as stated
- 364 effect sizes from 154 independent samples in 122 longitudinal studies (total N=98,436)
- What it measured
- Parents' mental health and psychological well-being from psychospiritual interventions
- How it was read
- screened only, not extracted
- What the review says it includes
- Systematic review
- Studies and participants, as stated
- 4 peer-reviewed studies (of 42 records)
- What it measured
- Factors shaping mental health outcomes
- How it was read
- screened only, not extracted
- What the review says it includes
- Systematic review and meta-ethnography (qualitative)
- Studies and participants, as stated
- 24 qualitative studies (of 3399 records)
- What it measured
- Enablers of psychological well-being
- How it was read
- screened only, not extracted
- What the review says it includes
- Systematic review (PRISMA) of quantitative and qualitative studies
- Studies and participants, as stated
- 16 articles; 1,352 participants
- What it measured
- Association between spirituality and quality of life
- How it was read
- screened only, not extracted
- What the review says it includes
- Systematic review (PRISMA)
- Studies and participants, as stated
- 6 studies
- What it measured
- Impact of disasters on R/S phenomena and relationship between R/S, cognition, behavior, and well-being
- How it was read
- screened only, not extracted
- What the review says it includes
- Systematic review
- Studies and participants, as stated
- 51 articles
- What it measured
- Protective factors and processes associated with resilience and positive psychosocial health
- How it was read
- screened only, not extracted
- What the review says it includes
- Systematic review (multisystemic resilience lens)
- Studies and participants, as stated
- 23 articles
- What it measured
- Relationship between spiritual fortitude (SF) and mental health/well-being
- How it was read
- screened only, not extracted
- What the review says it includes
- Systematic review of empirical studies
- Studies and participants, as stated
- 8 empirical studies, 3,455 participants
- What it measured
- Mental health outcomes associated with spirituality/religiosity
- How it was read
- screened only, not extracted
- What the review says it includes
- Systematic review (narrative synthesis)
- Studies and participants, as stated
- 28 studies
- What it measured
- Spiritual and religious beliefs/practices and their influence on care, coping, and decision-making
- How it was read
- screened only, not extracted
- What the review says it includes
- Systematic review (PRISMA)
- Studies and participants, as stated
- 21 reports
- What it measured
- Psycho-spiritual processes and interventions influencing well-being after trauma/adversity
- How it was read
- screened only, not extracted
- What the review says it includes
- Umbrella review
- Studies and participants, as stated
- 18 reviews included
- Heterogeneity, as stated
- Psycho-spiritual processes influence post-adversity well-being through multiple pathways, though effect sizes and heterogeneity were inconsistently reported, precluding pooled estimates
Every source below is shown with its study design and links to the original study. This is the audit trail.