Perceived Changes of Attitudes and Behaviors of Seventh-Day Adventists During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Findings from a Cross-Sectional Survey in Germany

Arndt Büssing; Daniela Rodrigues Recchia; Lorethy Starck; Klaus van Treeck

doi:10.1007/s10943-022-01580-y

Perceived Changes of Attitudes and Behaviors of Seventh-Day Adventists During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Findings from a Cross-Sectional Survey in Germany

J Relig Health. 2022 Jun;61(3):2253-2278. doi: 10.1007/s10943-022-01580-y. Epub 2022 May 17.

Authors

Arndt Büssing^{1

2}, Daniela Rodrigues Recchia^{3

4}, Lorethy Starck⁵, Klaus van Treeck⁵

Affiliations

¹ Professorship Quality of Life, Spirituality and Coping, Institute of Integrative Medicine, Faculty of Health, Witten/Herdecke University, 58313, Herdecke, Germany. Arndt.Buessing@uni-wh.de.
² IUNCTUS - Competence Center for Christian Spirituality, Philosophical-Theological Academy, 48149, Münster, Germany. Arndt.Buessing@uni-wh.de.
³ Professorship Quality of Life, Spirituality and Coping, Institute of Integrative Medicine, Faculty of Health, Witten/Herdecke University, 58313, Herdecke, Germany.
⁴ Chair of Research Methods and Statistics in Psychology, Faculty of Health, Witten/Herdecke University, 58448, Witten, Germany.
⁵ Institute for Holistic Wellbeing, Resilience and Spirituality; affiliated institute at the Friedensau Adventist University, Bremen, Germany.

Abstract

To analyze which pandemic related changes of attitudes and behaviors were perceived by Seventh-day Adventists (SDA) and how these relate to wellbeing, a cross-sectional survey with standardized questionnaires was performed. Participants (n = 1,494) stated changes for Relationships, Digital media usage and Nature/Silence/Contemplation, but not for Spirituality or Reflection of life. Best predictors of psychological wellbeing (WHO-5) were Spiritual wellbeing, perceived Restrictions and Awe/Gratitude (R² = .32). Mediation analyses (R² = 0.51) revealed a mediation effect of Awe/Gratitude between spiritual to psychological wellbeing (β = 0.11, p < 0.0001). Perceived changes were less relevant to buffer the negative effects of the pandemic; instead, they were related to fears of future. More relevant to stabilize SDAs´ wellbeing was their spirituality.

Keywords: Awe; COVID-19; Fear of future; Pandemic; Perceived changes; Seventh-Day-Adventists (SDA), Germany; Spirituality; Wellbeing.

MeSH terms

Attitude
COVID-19*
Cross-Sectional Studies
Germany
Humans
Internet
Pandemics
Protestantism