Commentary on “self-transcendence and well-being in homeless adults

Considerable research supports a link between self-transcendence views and behaviors and sense of well-being in populations such as physically healthy and clinically depressed middle-aged and older adults, persons with breast and prostate cancer, women with rheumatoid arthritis, persons with HIV/AIDS, liver transplant recipients, and caregivers of persons with dementia (Coward, 2006). Self-transcendence theory, as developed by Pamela Reed (1991, 2003), contains three basic concepts: vulnerability, self-transcendence, and well-being. Vulnerability refers to the awareness of personal mortality associated with a life crisis such as serious illness or disability, or a major life transition such as childbirth or bereavement. Runquist and Reed (2007) are convincing in their argument that the home-less are one of the most vulnerable populations i