Uncovering Spiritual Resiliency Through Feminist Qualitative Methods

SUMMARY A study conducted in Germany and America explored how spirituality might facilitate resiliency in old women. Believing in the importance of matching research methods with research goals, we used a feminist, qualitative, denominationally specific approach. We proposed that, through such a design, it would be possible to (a) allow the unique experiences of old women to be expressed; (b) identify themes and categories of spirituality contributing to the ability of elders to be resilient; and (c) present living models of spiritually successful aging. Because we wished to increase respect for old, strong women, we chose to listen deeply to narratives of their experiences and focus on the complex, culturally diverse meanings embedded in the interview transcripts. We were not interested for this exploratory project in measuring religiosity through quantitative means. Instead, we used triangulation of methods to achieve confirmability of the results, including multiple readings of verbatim transcripts in speakers' languages, recording of personal reactions to the interviews, coding of the journals, reviewing of the coding scheme by experts, and following up with visits with the respondents. The qualitative design provided a creative vehicle for articulating fresh constructs not previously identified in religion and aging research.