Leisure-Spiritual Coping: A Model for Therapeutic Recreation and Leisure Services

This paper synthesizes theory and research findings on leisure, stress, and spiritual coping into a conceptual model of leisure-spiritual coping. Spiritual coping refers to the ways that people receive help from spiritual resources (e.g., higher power, spiritual practices, faith community) during periods of life stress, whereas leisure-spiritual coping is spiritual coping that takes place within the context of an individual's leisure. The model takes into account spiritual appraisals (e.g., attribution), person factors (e.g., religious doctrines, religious orientation), leisure-spiritual coping behaviours (e.g., sacrilization, grounding, contemplative leisure, time and space, being away), leisure-spiritual coping resources (e.g., connections with nature, others, and transcendent other), and meaning making (e.g., life purpose, transformation, growth). The model, illustrated by a case study, will be of benefit to therapeutic recreation practitioners as they work with people experiencing stress, as well as to researchers as it can guide hypothesis development and provide a framework for the investigation of specific pathways that link the various spiritual and leisure constructs.