Coping strategies of inmates: purposeful religiosity as a tool for coping with challenges?

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60076658%3A12260%2F25%3A43911110" target="_blank" >RIV/60076658:12260/25:43911110 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/15426432.2025.2537669?needAccess=true" target="_blank" >https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/15426432.2025.2537669?needAccess=true</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15426432.2025.2537669" target="_blank" >10.1080/15426432.2025.2537669</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Coping strategies of inmates: purposeful religiosity as a tool for coping with challenges?

Original language description

This paper draws on studies examining the phenomenon of purposeful religiosity in Czech prisons, which is a space of isolation but can provide conditions for spiritual transformation and serve as a source of comfort in stressful situations. This study focuses on the role of religion in psychological coping, inmate adaptation, and analyzes the motivations associated with religious conversions in the context of coping strategies. Through qualitative analysis involving unstructured interviews with prison chaplains working in the Czech prison system, the research explores the role of religion as a tool for psychological coping and inmate adaptation. A key finding is the deconstruction of the prevailing narrative of purely pragmatic motivations for religious conversions. The data revealed a four-layered model of motivations: (1) pragmatically purposive, (2) instrumental, (3) adaptive, and (4) authentic. The focus is on identifying and understanding the motivations that shape inmates’ religious identities and the strategic forms of behavior resulting from the specific conditions of the Czech prison environment. The discussion emphasizes the concept of “spiritual resilience” as a dynamic process that goes beyond coping strategies and opens the way to rehabilitation through the reconstruction of moral identity. Implications for social work include recommendations and the need for interdisciplinary collaboration between chaplains and psychologists and social workers. The study contributes to the theoretical debate on religiosity in extreme social settings and offers an empirical basis for the design of resocialization programs based on narrativereconstruction.

Czech name

—

Czech description

—

Type

J_SC - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the SCOPUS database

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

50401 - Sociology

Project

—

Continuities

S - Specificky vyzkum na vysokych skolach

Publication year

2025

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Social Work

ISSN

1542-6432

e-ISSN

1542-6440

Volume of the periodical

44

Issue of the periodical within the volume

srpen

Country of publishing house

GB - UNITED KINGDOM

Number of pages

20

Pages from-to

1-20

UT code for WoS article

—

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-105013022160