A Qualitative Study on Comprehensive Missionary Wellness

Abstract

Literature on wellness indicates that the concept of comprehensive wellness and models created to describe wellness are helpful in conceptualizing, measuring, and promoting overall wellness in individuals. Research on missionaries, member care, and missionary mental health provision shows that missionaries possess unique characteristics, stressors, and needs, necessitating that missionary mental health provision be tailored to recognize and treat this specialized population. The current study used grounded theory qualitative research methods in an attempt to conceptualize missionaries through the concept of comprehensive multidimensional wellness. This was accomplished by conducting and analyzing semistructured interviews with 13 experts in member care and/or missionary mental health provision. The results provided a rich description of comprehensive missionary wellness and led to the development of a preliminary model of comprehensive missionary wellness based on the analysis of these interviews. A review of professional literature on wellness reveals many common themes among definitions of wellness. Most authors define wellness as a multidimensional (Adams & Bezner, 1995; Ardell, 1977; Hettler, 1980) concept that exists on a continuum (Adams & Bezner, 1995; Ardell, 1977; Dunn, 1977) and aims for balance among dimensions (Adams & Bezner, 1995; Dunn, 1977). The term wellness is also usually viewed as taking from the fields of holistic health (Ardell, 1977; Hettler, 1980) and positive health (Hettler, 1980), as well as overlapping with the fields of positive psychology (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000) and subjective well-being (Diener, 2000). Nevertheless, while the field of wellness has much interchange and overlap with related fields, it is most often viewed as its own construct with its own field. Most wellness literature is based on or promotes a comprehensive multidimensional model of wellness in an effort to conceptualize, measure, and/ or promote overall wellness in individuals. For example, one of the earliest influential wellness models was Hettler's (1980) wellness model that consisted of intellectual, emotional, physical, social, occupational, and spiritual components. While Hettler's model was developed in an attempt to promote a more comprehensive view of health that would contrast with more traditional views of health that only focused on mental health or physical health, his model was one of many influential wellness models that spurred this new field of health promotion. While there are many other wellness models that have been proposed since this time, Hettler's model is mentioned here because it was so influential in the development of future models, including this study's proposed model of comprehensive missionary wellness. One current trend in wellness literature is to adapt the concept of wellness to a specific population. Wellness models have been created for many unique populations, such as university students (DeStefano & Harger, 1990), teachers (Lauzon, 2003), and people with disabilities (Downs, Wile, Krahn, & Turner, 2004), yet many other groups of people with unique characteristics, such as missionaries, have yet to be the focus of wellness conceptualization, assessment, or promotion. Research on missionaries and missionary mental health shows that missionaries possess unique characteristics, stressors, and needs (Carter, 1999; O'Donnell, 1997), necessitating that missionary mental health provision be tailored to recognize and treat this specialized population. A few studies have looked at missionary wellness in a limited capacity, such as Andrews' (1995) study that examined the contributions of religious, existential, and spiritual dimensions of well-being on overall wellness in adult missionary children. Additionally, some articles have sought to promote proactive positive mental health interventions that contrast with illnessfocused models of mental health (Gardner, 1987). …

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