Changes in Sabbath-Keeping and Mental Health Over Time: Evaluation Findings From the Sabbath Living Study

Work-related stress is experienced at a high level in the United States. Clergy are particularly likely to over-extend themselves to act on their sacred call. Sabbath-keeping may offer a practice that is beneficial for mental health, yet many Protestant clergy do not keep a regular Sabbath. We exami...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Proeschold-Bell, Rae Jean (Author) ; Stringfield, Beth (Author) ; Yao, Jia (Author) ; Choi, Jessica (Author) ; Eagle, David (Author) ; Hybels, Celia F. (Author) ; Parnell, Heather (Author) ; Keefe, Kelly (Author) ; Shilling, Sara (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Sage Publishing 2022
In: Journal of psychology and theology
Year: 2022, Volume: 50, Issue: 2, Pages: 123-138
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Pastor / Mental health / Sabbath / Rest
IxTheo Classification:CB Christian life; spirituality
RB Church office; congregation
ZD Psychology
Further subjects:B Intervention
B positive psychology
B Mental Illness
B Sabbath
B Mental Health
B Spiritual well-being
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:Work-related stress is experienced at a high level in the United States. Clergy are particularly likely to over-extend themselves to act on their sacred call. Sabbath-keeping may offer a practice that is beneficial for mental health, yet many Protestant clergy do not keep a regular Sabbath. We examined whether United Methodist clergy who attended informative Sabbath-keeping workshops reported changes in spiritual well-being and mental health post-workshop. Compared to baseline, at 3 and 9 months post-workshop, participants reported an increase in Sabbath-keeping. In adjusted random effects and Poisson models, compared to not changing Sabbath-keeping frequency, increasing Sabbath-keeping was related to only one outcome: greater feelings of personal accomplishment at work. Decreasing Sabbath-keeping was related to worse anxiety symptoms, lower spiritual well-being in ministry scores, and a higher probability of having less than flourishing mental health. For four outcomes, there were no significant associations with changes in Sabbath-keeping over time. Although lacking a control group, this study adds to cross-sectional Sabbath-keeping studies by correlating changes in Sabbath-keeping with changes in mental health outcomes over time.
ISSN:2328-1162
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of psychology and theology
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/00916471211046227