Spirituality and Religious Practices Increase Senior Living Leader Resilience

By Dennis R. Myers, Robin K. Rogers, Brianna V. Garrison, Jon E. Singletary, and Haley Groce

"No good deed goes unpunished." This ironic statement captures the daily experience of many nursing home and senior living administrators who serve in one of the most challenging healthcare industry roles. They cope daily with challenges such as the aftermath of COVID restrictions, staffing shortages, increasingly at-risk consumers, reimbursement shortfalls, and intense regulations. Typically, burnout from the daily grind leads to high turnover in these positions, ultimately impacting the care offered to some of the most vulnerable members of our society.

However, despite these headwinds, many administrators stay on the job and even find it rewarding and meaningful. Our research team wondered what makes certain administrators stay and thrive in this work. Since the job brings ambiguous external rewards, we questioned the source of their internal resilience. Specifically, we wondered whether religious and spiritual beliefs and practices play a role.

To research this question, we asked experienced administrators whether religious and spiritual beliefs and practices make a difference in their job. No prior study asked such a direct question because administrators understand the importance of keeping their religious beliefs and practices private. As leaders, administrators exercise a lot of influence over staff and care recipients, so respect and neutrality for the viewpoints of others are essential. The downside of this important restriction is that talking openly about religion feels uncomfortable.

Despite that discomfort, eighteen administrators agreed to discuss how their religious and spiritual beliefs and practices affect their work. Surprisingly, most administrators we contacted were willing to have this conversation. The leaders we contacted work in a southwestern state in private, for-profit, non-profit, and public facilities. Their average experience was twenty-four years on the job.

Out of eighteen interested administrators, four said that religion and spirituality had nothing to do with the way they did their jobs. The remaining fourteen administrators (78%) said their religious and spiritual beliefs and practices matter in their work. Christian and evangelical views comprised the religious and spiritual belief systems identified by this group, which is common in this geographic area. We recorded and evaluated our conversations with them and discovered three key contributions offered by administrators' religious and spiritual beliefs and practices: perspective, purpose, and perseverance.

First, their religious and spiritual beliefs provide a lens or constant perspective on the job. These administrators rely on God or a higher power for the decisions they make and the actions they take. They spoke of having a sense of calling to their work. They also rely on sacred texts like the Bible and religious observances like prayer, worship, and religious education to sustain them. They view their work as informed and encouraged by their beliefs and practices.

Second, the administrators cited several examples of how their beliefs and practices provide a sense of purpose in the day-to-day performance of their jobs. For example, administrators remind themselves of their religious foundation when they face regulatory burdens and ambiguities. Some view their work as a ministry, or a partnership, with God. Feeling like they are where God wants them to be provides a sense of peace that helps them endure stress and ambiguity. They reported having an internal ethical compass guided by their beliefs that helps when encountering questionable company policies. Their religious and spiritual beliefs provide a sense of purpose for their work.

Third, we learned that religious and spiritual beliefs add intrinsic benefits and rewards to an administrator's perseverance in the job. These beliefs help them maintain a hopeful outlook despite the challenges. Their religious orientation helps them cope when they receive unkind and difficult words from others on the job. Their beliefs inspire and strengthen their ability to persevere on the job.

This study focused on a small number of administrators within a geographic boundary where mainline and evangelical Christian belief systems dominate. Conducting a study within these parameters allowed us to highlight the role of religious and spiritual beliefs and practices in these jobs. This study reveals that administrators' religious and spiritual beliefs play an important role in resilience and thriving in this complex work. Based on these results, our research team anticipates broader studies that consider various religious and spiritual beliefs and practices. We need to learn more to inform how to help better prepare and sustain new and experienced administrators for this vital but complex work of serving these vulnerable members of our senior living communities.

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Article Details
The Impact of Spirituality and Religious Practice on Senior Living Leader Career Resilience
Dennis R. Myers, Robin K. Rogers, Brianna V. Garrison, Jon E. Singletary, and Haley Groce
First published online June 24, 2022
DOI: 10.1177/07334648221110868
Journal of Applied Gerontology

About the Authors

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Dennis Myers, Ph.D., M.S.S.W, L.C.S.W. Professor and Danny and Lenn Prince Chair. University Outstanding Teacher and Distinguished Teacher. Principal or co-principle investigator for over $2M grant funding. Gerontology Initiative chair and principle investigator for the Prince Initiative providing research, evidence-based practice models, educational programs, and practical resources to strengthen the care environments and enrich the personal and family life of older persons. Serves on the Texas Nursing Facility Administrator’s Advisory Board. Authored or co-authored 80 journal articles and chapters in social work practice, military family life, at-risk older persons, persons living with dementia, educational gerontology, administration and social work practice in senior living environments, adult caregiving, productive aging, and faith-based community services.

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Rob Rogers joined the Baylor University faculty in August 2001. Currently he serves as Co-Director of the PhD Program and teaches in the areas of administration, community practice, and program evaluation. He has served as the director of the Center for Literacy (2005-2009) and Associate Dean for Graduate Studies (2019-2013). He has been the chair of the University’s Teaching, Learning, and Technology Committee and the Career Services Advisory Council. In 2013, he relocated to Louisville, KY, and has been teaching and working fulltime online since then. His practice experience has been in the public and private nonprofit sectors in the areas of workforce development, program evaluation and social policy analysis. He served for nine years as the executive director of the Center for Workforce Excellence in Pittsburgh, PA, and as a senior policy analyst for the Education Policy and Issues Center in Pittsburgh. Prior to this, he was on the faculty of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS), where he helped develop the MSW program, establish the Carver School of Church Social Work, and served as director of the MSW program. He has a BA from Baylor University (Waco, TX), a Master of Religious Education degree from the SBTS, a Master of Science in Social Work (MSSW) from the University of Louisville, and a PhD in social work from the University of Pittsburgh. His current research interests are in the areas of career resilience of administrators in senior living communities and the behavioral health work of social workers in these communities, as well as social work practice in congregations and religiously-affiliated social service organizations.

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Brianna V. Garrison, PhD, LCSW is an Assistant Professor and Doctoral Program Coordinator in the Department of Social Work at Southern Connecticut State University. Brianna was awarded a pre-dissertation fellowship with the Association of Gerontology Education in Social Work (AGESW). Brianna is a 2020 recipient of the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health's Frances Fowler Wallace Memorial Award for mental health dissertation research. Brianna is a licensed clinical social worker, and her clinical experience includes medical social work, grief and loss with older adults, adjustment to chronic and progressive illness, and working with persons living with dementia and their caregivers. Although her research has largely fallen within the realm of caregivers of persons living with dementia, her broader interests include gerontology education, spirituality and religiosity of older adults, health disparities, grief and loss, and social connection for older adults.

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Jon Singletary serves as dean and professor in the Diana R. Garland School of Social Work at Baylor University.

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Haley Groce, LMSW is a graduate of Baylor University’s Garland School of Social Work in Waco, Texas currently working in oncology social work in Houston, Texas. Her areas of interest include hospice and end-of-life care, Alzheimer’s and dementia, and older adults.