The moderating roles of self-reflection and self-insight in the relationship between religious coping methods and the resilience of Australian protestant ministers

<p>The frequency, and the personal and vicarious nature of stressors faced by ministry workers have been identified as contributing factors to burn-out in ministry. This thesis aimed to extend the Systematic Self-Reflection Model of Resilience Strengthening, exploring the roles of self-reflection and self-insight in refining the use of religious coping methods, to strengthen well-being and resilience within a ministry population. To test hypotheses, 277 Australian Protestant ministry workers completed an online survey. The mean age of participants was 46.7 years and 19.9% of the sample was female. The survey assessed wellbeing and perceived resilience as outcome variables, with stressor frequency, self-reflection, self-insight, and six religious coping methods as predictor variables. Hierarchical regression analyses found that self-reflection and self-insight were positively related to aligned religious coping methods and that self-insight was positively related to both well-being and perceived resilience. Aligned religious coping methods were generally found to be related to wellbeing, but not to resilience. Together, findings emphasise the importance of self-insight. For ministry workers seeking to strengthen resilience, this study supports activity that builds self-insight to refine use of coping methods aligned to religious values.</p>