Describe Theoretical Frameworks
In this paper, the author will discuss theoretical frameworks that have been presented in articles gathered for the purpose of research on clergy and mental health issues and stressors that they face. The author will explain how these theoretical frameworks fit the focus of his paper.
The study of Cafferata in the article “Respect, Challenges, and Stress among Protestant Pastors Closing a Church: Structural and Identity Theory Perspectives” combines two theoretic outlooks—first, structural theory personified historically in the effort of Max Weber, Durkheim and Merton , and second, identity model—to aid in understanding the minister’s understanding in a closing church. The structural model viewpoint along with identity concept assists in understanding how the associations and framework influence pastoral distinctiveness. Thomas Merton utilizes the notion of role prospects to discuss prospects of others in a role set for an individual inhabiting a position such as minister. A role set is merely an display of role associations in which one is involved by benefit of a certain standing. A minister’s prime role comprises individuals like lay leaders, church associates, the judicatory decision-making, judicatory staff, and communal leaders as well as, insofar as the minister contemplates of his or her labor as a vocation, God, Jesus, and Spirit. Through socialization and other interpersonal developments, role prospects become portion of a minister’s identity (Cafferata, 2017).
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The framework in the “Respect, challenges, and stress among protestant pastors closing a church: Structural and identity theory perspectives” would be beneficial in helping this author with his study in that it would help in understanding how identity as a pastor would help or not help a pastor in his with dealing with ministerial stressors. The structural theory would help in understanding how the associations and framework influence pastoral distinctiveness. This theory could be used to help in researching more on how role perspectives benefit or hurt the pastor’s ability to deal with stress. Some churches have a more defined role that the pastor has and it is well communicated to him how what is expected of him by the congregation. While a lot of churches do not have clear expectations and the pastor has to discern what written or unwritten expectations are desired for his position. The structural framework would help in better understanding that effects of those expectations.
In the article “Spiritual experience and mental distress: A clergy perspective” one can see that the qualitative method was the most suitable design for this portion of exploration. It was principally investigative in nature, emphasizing the exclusivity of a person’s interpretations and intends to gain awareness into how respondents made sense of their own understandings through the usage of their own words, construing as precisely as possible the involvements, connotations, and reasons of the contributors from their own viewpoints. (Guthrie, 2008)
The goal was to explore pastor’s understandings and perceptions of the association between spiritual practice and psychological anguish, with the following purposes: to examine the pastor’s understandings on the backgrounds and origins of psychological suffering and the association between the two; to discover the clergy’s philosophies regarding the notions of spirituality and the association between divine experience and psychological anguish (Guthrie, 2008)
The qualitative framework would be a boon in this author’s research to help understand how one’s maturity in spirituality effects one’s ability to cope with stress as a pastor. It could answer how a pastor deals with traumatic events in his tenure as a pastor. It could also answer the following questions: Does his educational level play a factor in handling the stresses as a pastor? Does his view of scripture play a role in how he deals with pain and mental suffering?
In the article “Orem’s self-care theory: A tool for education and practice” Orem’s Self-Care Deficit Theory (SCDT) has been utilized as a theoretical prototype for nursing preparation. Since the direct goal of a theoretical prototype to guide practice and evaluate a model’s helpfulness in training. Even though a model could be hypothetically valuable in a explicit and well-defined situation, its final practicality is dependent on whether nurses are able to adjust it to their situations. (Wagnild, G., Rodriguez, W., & Pritchett, 1987).
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Although the Orem’s self-Care theory is used with nurses it would be helpful for researching self-care for clergy as clergy have similar environmental factors in regards to expectations and helping individuals who are hurting. This would help with understanding how well clergy could adjust to their environment and stressful situations. It could also provide options in lower stress and self-care for pastors.
In the article “Understanding stress and life satisfaction for children of clergy: A retrospective study” the scholars combined family stress theory and the classic ABC-X model of family stress, which have been utilized in past study to inspect the method of anxiety managing in pastor families. In the ABC-X archetype, three combined variables label the level of association in persons and families that marks from their involvement of stressors: interacts with (the resources for managing stress) and with (the description of the occurrence), which produces (the emergency ). Conferring to FST, the manner persons and relatives experience stress is contingent on the incorporation of these aspects (Wilson & Darling, 2017)
The family stress theory and the classic ABC-X model of family stress would be helpful in understanding how the entire family manages stress and pressure as family of a pastor. This would be helpful in how and what resources family members have to assist them in difficult situations and stress. This could be a benefit for this author’s study. However, this author’s focus is going to be more focused on the pastor and his personal stressors. This author hopes to help the pastor manage anxiety, depression and stress better so that he can better manage the people of God and his family. It stands to reason that if the pastor can more effectively deal with his mental health issues his family would most likely follow suit.
References
- Cafferata, G. (2017). Respect, challenges, and stress among Protestant pastors closing a church: Structural and identity theory perspectives. Pastoral Psychology, 66(3), 311–333. https://doi-org.proxy1.ncu.edu/10.1007/s11089-016-0751-z
- Guthrie, T., & Stickley, T. (2008). Spiritual experience and mental distress: A clergy perspective. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 11(4), 387–402. https://doi-org.proxy1.ncu.edu/10.1080/13674670701484303
- Wagnild, G., Rodriguez, W., & Pritchett, G. (1987). Orem’s self-care theory: A tool for education and practice. The Journal Of Nursing Education, 26(8), 342–343. Retrieved from http://proxy1.ncu.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mdc&AN=2824729&site=eds-live
- Wilson, C., & Darling, C. (2017). Understanding stress and life satisfaction for children of clergy: A retrospective study. Pastoral Psychology, 66(1), 129–142. https://doi-org.proxy1.ncu.edu/10.1007/s11089-016-0720-6
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