Interdependence of Spirituality and Well-Being among Korean Elders and Family Caregivers Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Kim, Suk-Sun Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 02/10/2021 07:53:18 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/193675 INTERDEPENDENCE OF SPIRITUALITY AND WELL-BEING AMONG KOREAN ELDERS AND FAMILY CAREGIVERS by Suk-Sun Kim ________________________ Copyright © Suk-Sun Kim 2008 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the COLLEGE OF NURSING In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2 0 0 8 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Suk-Sun Kim entitled “Interdependence of Spirituality and Well-Being Among Korean Elders and Family Caregivers” and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy _______________________________________________________________________ Date: April 14, 2008 Pamela G Reed, PhD, RN, FAAN _______________________________________________________________________ Date: April 14, 2008 Terry A Badger, PhD, APRN, BC, FAAN _______________________________________________________________________ Date: April 14, 2008 Janice D Crist, PhD, RN _______________________________________________________________________ Date: April 14, 2008 Emily Butler, PhD Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate’s submission of the final copies of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. ________________________________________________ Date: April 14, 2008 Dissertation Director: Pamela G Reed, PhD, RN, FAAN 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder SIGNED: Suk-Sun Kim 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation could not have been written without God who gave me passion to study family spirituality and health with His wisdom and insight. Like connecting the dots to create pictures, God as my shepeard helped and guided me to develop this dissertation throughout the doctoral program. I also believe that He will guide my future career. I would like to express my respect and appreciation to my advisor and dissertation committee chair, Dr. Pamela Reed, who encouraged and challenged me to keep pursuing my goal throughout the academic program. Her insights on spirituality inspired me to develop my own work. I greatly admire her and hope to follow in her steps. I am pleased to acknowledge and thank my dissertation committee: Dr. Terry Badger, whose expertise and knowledge helped me to clarify the concept of spirituality and family spirituality and to improve my work; Dr. Janice Crist, who hired me as a research assistant was a role model for nursing research. Her interest and knowledge of elder care extended my interest in elder’s family care; and Dr. Emily Butler, whose knowledge of dyad analysis helped me to use a new statistical method in my dissertation. Most importantly, I have to thank Dr. Beverly Rosenthal who provided me a lot of help. As a friend, she listened to my concerns, and provided support as an English teacher, read and edited all my papers throughout the coursework as well as this dissertation, and like a mom, taught me about the culture and life in the USA. Also, I thank Pastor. Moon Su Hong for his continuous prayer and support. I would like to acknowledge the Global Korean Nursing Foundation (GKNF) which supported this dissertation and provided the Susie Dissertation Research Fellowship in 2007. I want to thank Dr. Susie Kim who motivated me to study spirituality and health from a nurses’ perspective in my under-graduate nursing studies at Ewha Women’s Univeristy, Seoul Korea. She has continously supported and challenged me to become a nursing scholar. I also thank Dr. Kwang Ja Lee for her support and love. Most importantly, I would like to give special thanks to my best friend and husband, Sung-Jun Park for holding my hand through difficult times as well as happy moments and for everything he has done for me over the years. I extend a loving thanks to my family members who instilled in me faith in God. Finally, I gave great thanks to all Korean elders and their family caregivers who participated in this dissertation. 5 DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to God and my parents: to my father, Dr. Wang Kon Kim, to my mother, Soon Ja Lee and to my mother-in-law, Jung Suk Lee. They wake up at the dawn everyday and pray for me in Korea, the opposite side of here. Their prayers and petitions with tears kept me in God’s hands, so God had helped me to concentrate on studying and to complete the doctoral degree and this dissertation with their support, encouragements, and unfailing love. 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS............................................................................................ 11 LIST OF TABLES............................................................................................................ 12 ABSTRACT...................................................................................................................... 14 CHAPTER ONE: STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM .................................................. 16 Background and Significance ........................................................................................... 16 Purpose of Study............................................................................................................... 19 Nursing Philosophy........................................................................................................... 20 Human Beings.......................................................................................................... 20 Health and Nursing.................................................................................................. 21 Knowledge and Truth............................................................................................... 22 Theoretical Framework..................................................................................................... 23 Family Interdependence........................................................................................... 24 Spirituality................................................................................................................ 26 Well-Being................................................................................................................ 28 Relationships Among the Concepts: The Conceptual Framework................................... 29 Demographic and Health Related Factors ........................................................................ 31 Research Questions and Hypotheses ................................................................................ 32 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................... 34 Family Interdependence.................................................................................................... 34 Family Interdependence – Focus on Korean Family Interdependence................... 35 Korean History, Culture and Philosophy ................................................................ 35 Caring for Elders in Korean Family........................................................................ 36 Studying Korean Family Interdependence............................................................... 37 The Family Interdependence of Spirituality ............................................................ 37 The Congruence of Spirituality................................................................................ 38 Spirituality Between Caregivers and Care Receivers.............................................. 39 Family Spirituality, Relationships and Family Well-Being ..................................... 40 Summary ......................................................................................................... 41 The Family Interdependence of Well-Being–Including the Context of Caregiving.41 The Similarity of Well-Being Between Older Spouses............................................. 41 The Similarity of Depression in Older Spouses and Their Relationship ................. 42 Family Interdependence in the Context of Family Caregiving................................ 43 Summary ......................................................................................................... 44 Well-Being.......................................................................................................................