‘IT’S A GIFT TO BE FREE’: THE EXPERIENCE OF SPIRITUALITY AND/OR RELIGION FOR INDIVIDUALS LIVING WITH A DIAGNOSIS OF SCHIZOPHRENIA

ii Research on spirituality and/or religion in health care has in the past neglected people diagnosed with persistent mental illness. Furthermore, little research has attempted to explore the intersection of spiritual experience and psychotic-like experience. Occupational therapists, who also work in psychiatric practice settings, incorporate the concept of spirituality into their theoretical models but continue to debate over its definition and application. The concept of spirituality within multicultural, pluralistic health care settings remains vague, limiting utilization. Accordingly this qualitative research project, using hermeneutic phenomenology through the lens of symbolic interactionism, was designed to explore the meaning (the language and significance) of spirituality for people living with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Nine co-researchers/participants, living in the Vancouver area (British Columbia), were interviewed using a three-phase semi-structured interview process. The data were analysed using both descriptive and interpretive phenomenological methods