PSYCHO-SOCIAL WELL-BEING OF DIVORCEES IN RELATION TO CHURCH POLICY ON DIVORCE IN SELECTED EVANGELICAL CHURCHES IN NAKURU COUNTY, KENYA

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Martha Chebbet FINAL DISSERTATION FOR PRINTING [26th June 2023] (1).pdf (1.9 MB)
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2023-07-25
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The spirit and purpose of Church policy on divorce should lead affected parties towards reconciliation and fellowship with God and man, and guide the Church to conduct itself towards divorcees with Christ likeness. Yet, divorcees continue to experience social stigma even in the church, with potentially adverse implications on their psychosocial wellbeing. This study examined divorcees’ mental, social and spiritual well-being in relation to Church policy on divorce in selected Evangelical Churches in Nakuru County. The study also assessed whether the relationship between Church’s policy on divorce and well-being is mediated by stigma of divorce and moderated by coping style. The bio-psycho-socio-spiritual model was used as an all-encompassing theoretical lens for the study, with social well-being theory serving as a supplementary theory. Pragmatist philosophy, which adopts a mix-methods research design, was used. The target population was divorcees who were members of evangelical churches found across the 11 Sub-Counties of Nakuru County. A snowball sample of 121 divorcees were recruited as participants. A semi-structured questionnaire and in-depth interview guide were used. The instruments were pre-tested on 10 respondents in an Evangelical Church in Kiambu County and found to be valid and reliable (a>0.7). Quantitative data was analysed using linear regression technique in SPSS version 23 while qualitative data was analysed using thematic technique. Ethical clearance was obtained from PAC University’s Scientific Ethical Review Committee. Results showed that Church policy on divorce had no statistically significant influence on the divorcees’ psychosocial well-being (R2 = 0.16, p>.05). However, stigma had a negative and statistically significant influence on divorcee psychosocial wellbeing (r= -.255, p<.05) but did not significantly mediate the relationship between church policy on divorce and wellbeing of divorcees (B=-.230, t = -1.326, p=.188). Coping style also did not significantly moderate the relationship between church policy on divorce and wellbeing of divorcees being (r =.151, p>.05). Thematic analysis showed that the rigorist standpoint and the legislative perspectives were the most salient themes underpinning Church policy on divorce. Church leaders should therefore consider taking counselling courses or participating in counselling seminars to equip them to better minister to the divorced members in church.
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https://repo.pacuniversity.ac.ke/handle/123456789/3752.2
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TD-Department of Psychology (PhD)

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