Spirituality and Wellness in Australia
Spirituality and Wellness in Australia
The Spirituality and Wellness in Australia project aims to investigate the growing interest in and identification with spirituality in Australia. Recent Australian Research Council-funded research on the Worldviews of Australia’s Generation Z, has revealed that about a quarter of Australian teens identify as ‘spiritual but not religious’ while eight per cent are ‘spiritual and religious’. The study found that an increasing number of young people are also partaking in spiritual and wellness practices of yoga and meditation, in and outside of school. In addition, scholars have observed that many people have participated in online and offline spiritual practices, including yoga, meditation and conscious dance, as supports during the COVID-19 crisis. At the same time, there has been a rise in ‘conspirituality’, the merging of spirituality and conspiracy theories, during the pandemic internationally.
Survey
The survey is now closed (21 October 2021)
We are conducting a study of how Australian adults express their spirituality and how this has affected their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are asking you some questions about these issues.
This survey should take about 10 minutes. YOU MUST BE AGED OVER 18 TO PARTICIPATE.
All information you provide will remain confidential and the survey is anonymous. Participation is entirely voluntary. If you don’t want to answer any questions, you don’t have to. You can withdraw at any point until the survey is completed and submitted.
If you have any questions, please contact: spirituality.research@deakin.edu.au
This survey is being conducted by Deakin University and Western Sydney University. It is approved by the Deakin Human Research Ethics Committee (21-053).
Research questions and design
The Spirituality and Wellness in Australia project aims to provide a deeper understanding of spirituality and wellness practices and beliefs in Australia. These questions will guide the research:
- How do Australians define and perceive spirituality?
- What factors lead Australians to partake in spiritual and wellness practices?
- How have they been practiced on and offline during the COVID-19 pandemic?
- How do spiritual persons and groups co-opt or critique science, and engage in conspiracy theories in Australia?
The project will employ mixed-method qualitative and quantitative methods including a survey of Australian participants, follow-up interviews from survey responses, and interviews with key public figures in wellness and spirituality in Australia.
RESEARCH TEAM
Principal Investigator:
A/Prof Anna Halafoff (Deakin)
Co-Investigators:
Prof. Andrew Singleton (Deakin),
Prof. Cristina Rocha (Western Sydney),
Dr Enqi Weng (Deakin)
Dr Alexandra Roginski (Deakin)
Project funding
This project has received seed funding support from the Alfred Deakin Institute. It will be further developed into a larger ARC Discovery Project application.
It will also inform the (Con)spirituality, Science and the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia: Material and Digital Practices small grant project, which has been funded by the International Research Network for Science and Belief in Society, based at the University of Birmingham and funded by the Templeton Religion Trust.
