Writing therapy is known to promote self–exposure which leads to improve psychological well - being, and physical health (Henry et al., 2010; Travagin, Margola, & Revenson, 2015). The purpose of this study is to examine differences of spiritual growth, psychological and physical well–being in relation to the frequency of writing spiritual diaries. Spiritual diary is write down what God has done in the life and how walk with Jesus in everyday or every moments including not only thoughts, feelings, and events, but also Bible meditation, prayers, and gratitudes (Yu, 2017).
Methods:
A cross-sectional descriptive correlational design was used. A convenience sample of 385 adults who writing spiritual dairies responded to the survey. The participations were divided into three groups according to the number of times they wrote spiritual diaries: ‘almost every day’ writing group, ‘week 1~4 times’ writing group, 'less than once a month' group. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA.
Results:
A survey was carried out in 385 adults aged 19 and over who were writing spiritual diaries; ‘almost every day’ writing group (n=188), ‘week 1~4 times’ writing group (n= 172), and 'less than once a month' group (n=25). The result revealed significant differences in spiritual growth, psychological and physical well-being among the three groups. Those who write spiritual diaries in 'almost every day' had statistically significantly higher scores in spiritual growth, psychological and physical well-being than those of 'week 1~4 times' and 'less than once a month' groups had.
Conclusion:
These results indicated that by continuing their intimacy with God through writing spiritual diaries every day, not only can they experience spiritual growth but also promote their psychological and physical well-being. Finding suggests that writing a spiritual diary is useful way to improve psychological and physical well-being as well as spiritual growth.
References
Henry, E. A., Schlegel, R. J., Talley, A. E., Molix, L. A., & Ann Bettencourt, B. (2010). The feasibility and effectiveness of expressive writing for rural and urban breast cancer survivors. In Oncology Nursing Forum, 37(6), 749.
Travagin, G., Margola, D., & Revenson, T. A. (2015). How effective are expressive writing interventions for adolescents? A meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 36, 42-55.
Yu, GS. (2017). Happily walk with God: Spiritual Diary. Seoul: Gyu Jang
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