Spirituality and Well-Being: Community Perspectives from the Flint Women's Study

Spirituality is important for the well-being of marginalized women, offering strength amid adversity. However, even when women from poverty-stricken communities draw resilience from spirituality, they often continue to exhibit poorer health outcomes compared to dominant groups.

The Flint Women's Study was conducted to understand the needs, strengths, hopes, and solutions of women in Flint. This sub-study aims to 1) explore how spirituality influences women's well-being and 2) elicit participants' suggestions for how spirituality can be used to address gaps in women's mental and physical health needs.

Community-based participatory research principles with a qualitative research design were applied. Using a semi-structured interview, a sample of 100 women and/or providers serving women were interviewed to explore how spirituality influences women's well-being and suggestions for addressing their mental and physical health needs.

Findings revealed three key themes: 1) spirituality promoting women's well-being (reflecting on how spirituality supports women's physical and mental health needs); 2) criticisms and limitations of access to spirituality (underlining structural hurdles that hinder access to meeting women's needs); and 3) recommendations for addressing women's physical and mental health priorities.

Spirituality can function as a social determinant of health in marginalized communities that face multiple adversities, given its potential to promote health outcomes. Intersecting with faith-based spaces, spirituality shapes women's well-being while also continuing to present structural barriers to accessing support. Recommendations are provided for faith-based communities to work together to promote women's aspirations, prioritize reproductive needs, and create supportive spaces that amplify women's voices.