Engaging Asian faith communities and counselling psychology perspectives in the development of older adult services

Abstract

This mixed methods study investigates how counselling psychology perspectives can collaborate with the Sikh community in the development of Older Adult Psychology Services. 73 Sikh participants, aged 45-65 years contributed in English and Punjabi through interview, questionnaire or focus group at multiple community sites across 3 metropolitan boroughs in Sandwell. Qualitative data from validated scenarios and personal experience were analysed by a thematic approach informed by Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis. Master themes were identified for religion, quality of life and service development. The SF12v2 (Ware et al., 2005) is a measure of health and well-being which showed just below average population norms for physical and mental health components of well-being for the Sikh Community. The God Locus of Health Control Scale (Wallston et al., 1999) demonstrated religion‟s importance, and how karma is integral to Sikhs‟ understanding and management of health. 80.6% (N=31) prefer older adult service providers to account for their religious beliefs and counselling psychologists are recommended to address this request in their engagement with this community. Preferences in the modes of delivery, types of psychological intervention and aids to service uptake are provided with recommendations for clinical practice, training and future research.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo