Religious and/or spiritual practices: extending spiritual freedom to people with schizophrenia

It continues to be a challenge to define and utilize spirituality in client-centred occupational therapy practice. Dialogue about spirituality is especially problematic for occupational therapists working with people with schizophrenia.

To explore the meaning of religion and/or spirituality for people living with a diagnosis of schizophrenia.

Nine community-based individuals with schizophrenia engaged in interviews about the meaning of religion and/or spirituality and demonstrated self-defined spiritual practices. Phenomenology, hermeneutic theory, and a symbolic interactionism framework provided methodological and analytic guidance.

Participants employed religious and/or spiritual practices to cope with schizophrenia symptoms and make meaning of their lives. Individuals used multiple systems of meaning to explain their experiences. Religious and/or spiritual agency, an individual's sense of freedom to choose among the spiritual options, renewed their sense of empowerment.

Therapists can engage in spiritual negotiation with clients by using well-worded empowering questions toward a common goal of life enhancement.