With the rising incidence and impact of disasters, the psychological study of disasters has accelerated exponentially as well. For instance, a January 2018 PsycINFO search using the term "disaster*" yielded the following trend of citations: 172 (1970s), 634 (1980s), 1,384 (1990s), 4,509 (2000s), and 6,538 (since 2010). There have been dozens of meta-analyses and systematic reviews of this literature, documenting that disasters often lead to adverse mental health outcomes, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depressive symptoms (Norris, Galea, Friedman, & Watson, 2006; Rodriguez, Donner, & Trainor, 2018).

In stark contrast, empirical studies examining religion/spirituality within a disaster context--what has been termed "spiritually oriented disaster psychology" (Aten, O'Grady, Milstein, Boan, & Schruba, 2014, p. 20)--has received considerably less attention. A recent review by Aten et al. (2018) found only 53 such studies from 1975 to 2016. Even so, there appears to be increased scholarly interest in spiritually oriented disaster psychology, as evidenced by the fact that the majority of these 53 studies have been published in the last decade. Most of this research has examined (a) the impact of people's religion/spirituality on their postdisaster mental health (e.g., PTSD, anxiety, and depression symptoms), (b) the impact of disasters on people's religion/spirituality (e.g., their religious/spiritual [R/S] beliefs and practices, such as how they view and relate to God), or (c) the reciprocal interaction of the two (e.g., how their religion/spirituality impacts their postdisaster mental health, and vice versa).

Why Study Spiritually Oriented Disaster Psychology?

There are many strategic reasons for researchers to consider studying spiritually oriented disaster psychology. First of all, there is a major societal need, as disasters are "among the most universally threatening of life stressors" (Thompson, Norris, & Hanacek, 1993, p. 606), and across the globe, disasters are increasing considerably in their frequency, intensity, and impact (CRED, 2016; EM-DAT, n.d.; NCEI, 2018; START, 2016). Second, 84% of the world's population is religiously affiliated (Pew Research Center, 2017), and religion/spirituality plays an important role in the lives and identity of many (if not most) of these individuals (Pargament, 2013a, 2013b). Third, religion/spirituality is an important source of meaning for them as well (Park, 2013), and during times of adversity--such as disasters--people's religion/spirituality can be an influential source of hope, coping, and resilience (Park, 2016a, 2016b; cf. Pargament & Cummings, 2010). Fourth, because the empirical study of disasters, religion, and spirituality is still relatively new, there are vast possibilities that are open for researchers to explore. Finally, because disasters affect so many people, there are countless ways for scientists, practitioners, and policymakers to collaborate--a possibility we explore further in the next section.

Recommendations for Advancing Research on Spiritually Oriented Disaster Psychology in what follows, we offer several recommendations for researchers who decide to join in this meaningful endeavor of studying spiritually oriented disaster psychology. In particular, we encourage researchers to: (a) use diverse and rigorous methodologies; (b) conduct longitudinal, experimental, and outcome research; (c) recruit diverse samples; (d) study phenomena at multiple levels; (e) collaborate with practitioners (e.g., religious, mental health, and disaster professionals); and (f) translate scientific findings to make a meaningful difference in people's lives. Most of these recommendations are broadly applicable (i.e., they help scientific research advance in virtually any topic area). However, in what follows, we highlight the ways these recommendations can specifically help advance research on spiritually oriented disaster psychology.

Use Diverse and Rigorous Methodologies

First, if research on spiritually oriented disaster psychology is going to advance, researchers need to employ more rigorous and diverse methodologies than they have traditionally employed. For example, as with most research in the field of psychology (and most research in the field of disaster mental health; Norris et al., 2006; Rodriguez et al., 2018), the vast majority of research on spiritually oriented disaster psychology has been conducted using solely quantitative self-report measures. Yet we agree with Hood (2013) that "religion and spirituality are best illuminated by a variety of methods, each of which contributes something to our understanding" (p. 79). For instance, there are three broad categories of available techniques for measuring R/S phenomena in a disaster context: quantitative measurement techniques (e.g., self-report measures, other-report measures), qualitative measurement techniques (e.g., interview measures), and indirect measurement techniques (e.g., implicit measures, subliminal priming; Gibson, 2007; Zahl, Sharp, & Gibson, 2013). In the current special issue, we have tried to highlight this diversity of techniques by featuring research that utilizes quantitative measurement techniques (Captari et al., 2018; McElroy-Heltzel et al., 2018a, 2018b [this issue]) and research that utilizes qualitative measurement techniques (o'Grady et al., 2018; Schruba et al., 2018a [this issue]). There is a need for spiritually oriented disaster research to move beyond merely using self-report measures and to move into complementing the data from such measures by triangulating it with data obtained from other sources (e.g., other-report measures, interview measures, and implicit measures).

Correspondingly, there are three broad methodologies researchers can utilize: quantitative methods, qualitative methods (e.g., grounded theory, content analysis, narrative analysis, ethnography, phenomenology, etc.), and mixed methods (a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods; Creswell, 2014; Davis et al., 2016). Again, in this special issue, we have tried to highlight studies that employ quantitative methods (Captari et al., 2018; McElroy-Heltzel et al., 2018a, 2018b [this issue]) and studies that employ qualitative ones (O'Grady et al., 2018; Schruba et al., 2018a [this issue]). As is the case in the broader field of psychology, most research on spiritually oriented disaster psychology has been quantitative (Aten et al., 2018). However, both in the broader field of psychology (Gergen, Josselson, & Freeman, 2015) and in the subfield of the psychology of religion/spirituality (Davis et al., 2016), there is increasing scholarly interest in conducting qualitative and mixed methods research. We encourage spiritually oriented disaster psychology researchers to join in this expansion of utilized methodologies (Davis & Tisdale, 2016), by beginning to employ qualitative and mixed methods approaches.

In the same way, we encourage researchers in this area to employ as methodologically rigorous a study design as possible. Many disaster studies employ a rather unsophisticated methodology, thereby limiting the validity, reliability, and generalizability of that study's findings. There are a variety of resources that researchers can draw on to help enhance the methodological rigor of their studies and manuscripts (e.g., Appelbaum et al., 2018; Levitt et al., 2017, 2018; Makel & Plucker, 2017). Indeed, we encourage spiritually oriented disaster psychology researchers to rely heavily on such resources, so that research in this area can get accepted in top-tier (i.e., high-impact) journals and thus have more of an impact on science, practice, theory, and policy.

Conduct Longitudinal, Experimental, and Outcome Research

As with most research in psychology, the lion's share of research on spiritually oriented disaster psychology is cross-sectional. However, in order to test the effects of disasters on R/S phenomena (and vice versa), longitudinal designs are needed--ideally longitudinal designs that include predisaster data (Norris et al., 2006; e.g., Sibley & Bulbulia, 2012). Likewise, in order to test causal theories of how disasters affect R/S phenomena, experimental designs are necessary (e.g., Fischer, Greitemeyer, Kastenmuller, Jonas, & Frey, 2006).

One area where longitudinal and experimental research on disasters would be especially enlightening is studying postdisaster resilience and posttraumatic growth. For instance, researchers could use longitudinal or experimental designs to study how and when people might experience positive psychological and spiritual change as a result of struggling with disaster-related adversity (cf. Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2004). Other prospective longitudinal research could compare whether and how perceived versus actual posttraumatic growth are related to one another and to postdisaster psychological and R/S outcomes (cf. Frazier et al., 2009).

In addition, there is a dearth of outcome research on spiritually oriented disaster psychology interventions (Aten, 2012; Aten et al., 2014; see Schruba et al., 2018a, 2018b [this issue]). There is a vital need for such research, so that disaster spiritual and emotional care strategies can become more strategically informed and evidence-based (Aten, 2012; Schruba et al., 2018a, 2018b [this issue]). For instance, researchers could conduct outcome research comparing religiously accommodated Psychological First Aid (PFA; Brymer et al., 2006b) to "secular" PFA (i.e., PFA that did not explicitly incorporate religious topics or interventions; Brymer et al., 2006a). Meta-analytic evidence has found that R/S psychotherapies outperform secular psychotherapies in yielding improvements in client R/S outcomes (e.g., spiritual well-being), and they are comparable to secular psychotherapies in yielding improvements in client psychological outcomes (e.g., decreased psychopathology; Worthington et al., 2011). Researchers could test whether the same finding is evident when spiritually oriented disaster psychology interventions are compared with secular disaster psychology interventions.

Recruit Diverse Samples

Most research on spiritually oriented disaster psychology has been conducted in the United States. Likewise, most of this research has been conducted with samples in which racial/ethnic and religious minorities are significantly underrepresented (and correspondingly, with samples in which White people, Christians, and people of middle or upper socioeconomic status are overrepresented; Aten et al., 2018). Consequently, there is a need for researchers in this area to recruit samples that are more religiously, racially/ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse, and there is a need for researchers to conduct spiritually oriented disaster psychology research outside the U.S. (e.g., O'Grady et al., 2018 [this volume]). Moreover, because the majority of spiritually oriented disaster research has been conducted with samples of young or middle-aged adults, there is a need for researchers to study child, adolescent, and older-adult samples as well.

Study Phenomena at Multiple Levels

Here we echo the recommendation of psychology of religion/spirituality scholars (e.g., Emmons & Paloutzian, 2003; Pargament et al., 2013) and recommend that spiritually oriented disaster psychology researchers study phenomena at multiple levels. To date, most research has focused on studying individuals. However, by definition, disasters are collectively experienced events (McFarlane & Norris, 2006). As such, we recommend that researchers study the multiple levels at which disasters impact people's lives (e.g., as individuals, couples, families, congregations, communities, and societies). In addition, researchers can study the ways that factors at these various levels can interact to influence the recovery trajectory of disaster survivors (e.g., what individual, family, and community level factors can help buffer against adverse effects of disasters and promote growth following a disaster; e.g., O'Grady et al., 2018 [this volume]; cf. Zautra, Hall, & Murray, 2010). Even at the individual level, spiritually oriented disaster psychology researchers could examine processes occurring both at a conscious level (e.g., assessing via self-report measures) and a nonconscious level (assessing via indirect or implicit measures; cf. Davis et al., 2016; Zahl et al., 2013).

Collaborate With Practitioners

Again, as is the case in the field of psychology more broadly (McWilliams, 2017), much of the scientific research on spiritually oriented disaster psychology has been segregated from practitioners (e.g., religious, mental health, and disaster professionals who provide disaster spiritual and emotional care). such a divide between scientists and practitioners is indeed understandable, given the ballooning professional demands faced by people in both arenas (McWilliams, 2017). Even so, as in the case of psychology generally, the field of spiritually oriented disaster psychology would benefit greatly from researchers and practitioners collaborating (e.g., see Aten et al., 2013, for a clergy, academic, and mental health partnership [CAMP] model that can guide such collaborations). For example, researchers can draw on practitioners' insights in order to design studies, formulate questions, and test hypotheses that are guided by what practitioners are seeing as they provide disaster spiritual and emotional care. Practitioners can help researchers interpret their scientific findings in ways that enhance the validity, contextualization, and utility of those findings.

Translate Scientific Findings to Make a Meaningful Difference in People's Lives

One of the most important ways that scientists and practitioners can partner together is in the translation of scientific findings for broader audiences. For example, scientists and practitioners can work together to distill the findings of science into understandable and helpful resources. Practitioners can use such resources to inform their work with disaster survivors (e.g., Aten & Boan, 2016), and laypersons can use them to help navigate their disaster-related experiences. In the same way, communities can use these types of lay-accessible resources to prepare for and respond to disasters, and policymakers can use them to inform decisions about disaster relief and recovery efforts, including decisions about the allocation of financial and human resources. In short, translating scientific findings into accessible resources can help make a truly meaningful difference in people's lives.

Conclusion

We hope these recommendations help advance scientific research on disasters, religion, and spirituality. It is our sincere desire that these ideas, suggestions, and findings will not only help advance scientific knowledge and practice but that they also will ultimately make a positive difference in the lives of disaster-affected people and communities.

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Edward B. Davis

Jamie D. Aten

Wheaton College

Daryl R. Van Tongeren

Hope College

Joshua N. Hook

University of North Texas

Don E. Davis

Cirleen DeBlaere

Laura R. Shannonhouse

Georgia State University

This publication was made possible through the support of a grant from the John Templeton Foundation (Grant #44040). The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Edward B. Davis, Psychology Department, Wheaton College, 501 College Ave, Billy Graham Center, Wheaton, IL; [email protected]

Authors

Edward B. Davis (Psy.D., Regent University) is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Wheaton College (IL). His research focuses on the psychology of religion and spirituality, especially relational spirituality, God representations, disasters, and positive psychology.

Jamie D. Aten (Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology, Indiana State University) is the Dr. Arthur P. Rech and Mrs. Jean May Rech Associate Professor of Psychology and the Founder and Executive Director of the Humanitarian Disaster Institute at Wheaton College. Dr. Aten's primary professional interests include the psychology of religion/spirituality and disasters, spiritually oriented disaster psychology, and psychology in disaster ministry.

Daryl R. Van Tongeren (Ph.D. in Social Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University) is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Hope College. He studies the psychology of meaning, religion, virtues, and suffering.

Joshua N. Hook (Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University) is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of North Texas. Dr. Hook's research interests include humility, religion/spirituality, and multicultural counseling. He also blogs regularly at www.joshuanhook.com.

Don E. Davis (Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology) is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA. His research interests include positive psychology--especially relational virtues of humility, forgiveness, and gratitude--as well as integration of spirituality into counseling.

Cirleen DeBlaere (Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology, University of Florida) is Associate Professor of Counseling Psychology in the Department of Counseling and Psychological Services at Georgia State University. Dr. DeBlaere's interests include the examination of intersecting multiple marginalized identities, minority stress (e.g., discrimination, stigma) and mental health, cultural humility in counseling and therapist training, and assessment and measurement of multicultural constructs.

Laura R. Shannonhouse (Ph.D. in Counseling and Counselor Education, University of North Carolina at Greensboro) is an Assistant Professor at Georgia State University. In K-12 schools and district systems, Dr. Shannonhouse conducts training and research to prevent youth suicide (suicide first aid), and with disaster-impacted populations, she conducts training and research to foster meaning making through one's faith tradition (spiritual first aid).