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Eastern Illinois University - Charleston, IL Sunday, May. 11, 2008

Religious Coping Survey

ATTENTION MISSIONARIES: Participate in Important Religious Coping Research!!!

W. Andrew Robinson and Melanie Mills with the Department of Communication Studies at Eastern Illinois University, are conducting this study, "Intrapersonal, interpersonal, and spiritual/religious coping valances that missionaries apply in crisis management."

By clicking the button to submit the survey, you are verifying that you understand the purpose of this study is to measure missionaries’ activation of religious coping strategies during crises and that the possible benefits are good, and that little or no risks are anticipated. Furthermore, you are stipulating that you understand that your participation in this study is voluntary and your refusal to participate will not affect benefits which you are entitled to nor will any other penalties toward you occur. You are also stating you understand the results of the survey will be reported anonymously and used for the purpose of advancing higher education research. If you have questions concerning this project, use the information for contacting the researchers provided at the end of this message. The survey takes only about 15-20 minutes to complete. Thank you for your help.

Sincerely,

Rev. Andrew Robinson, Ph.D.
warobinson@eiu.edu
(217)581-6946

Dr. Melanie Mills
mbmills@eiu.edu
(217)581-3819
RECOPE Survey (adapted from Pargament, et al., 1998)
Religious Coping Research with Missionaries
Melanie Mills & William Andrew Robinson


We appreciate your participation in this research. Learning more about your mission work will help us to provide training information for other missionaries.

Please provide the following background information:
1. Age
  Under 18
  18-29
  30-30
  40-49
  Over 50

2. Sex:
  Male
  Female

3. Ethnicity:
  Caucasian
  Hispanic
  Asian
  African American
  Other

4. Denomination (or indicate if you are inter- or non-denominational):

5. How long have you identified yourself with this denomination?
  Under 1 year
  1-5 years
  6-10 years
  More than 10 years

6. Missionary Job Description:
  Minister
  Physician
  Builder
  Lay Minister
  Teacher
  Other

  Under 2 weeks 2-4 weeks 5-8 weeks 9-12 weeks 13-16 weeks 17-20 weeks 21-24 weeks 25-28 weeks 29-32 weeks Over 33 weeks
7. Weeks per year in the mission field:

8. How is your work funded?

9. Describe any training you have had for missionary service.

10. Briefly describe your missionary work and experience.

11. Take a few moments to remember one of the most stressful events related to your mission work. Some examples of stressful events might be a local catastrophe, miserable relationship, work overload, crisis of faith, and so on. Before you respond to the rest of the survey, please provide a description of your specific stressful situation.

12. Please provide a list of words to describe the emotions you felt at the time of this event.

As you were experiencing this stressful event, indicate how often you responded in the following ways:
  Very often Often Seldom Not at all
13. I thought about how my life is part of a larger spiritual force.

  Very often Often Seldom Not at all
14. I worked together with God as partners to get through this hard time.

  Very often Often Seldom Not at all
15. I looked to God for strength, support, and guidance in this crisis.

  Very often Often Seldom Not at all
16. I tried to find the lesson from God in this crisis.

  Very often Often Seldom Not at all
17. I looked for spiritual support from my church in this crisis.

  Very often Often Seldom Not at all
18. I tried to give spiritual strength to other people.

  Very often Often Seldom Not at all
19. I asked others to pray for me.

  Very often Often Seldom Not at all
20. I contacted or had someone contact a prayer chain on my behalf.

  Very often Often Seldom Not at all
21. I read religious books for encouragement or guidance (for example, the Holy Bible).

  Very often Often Seldom Not at all
22. I confessed my sins and asked for God’s forgiveness.

  Very often Often Seldom Not at all
23. I asked God to help me find a new purpose in living.

  Very often Often Seldom Not at all
24. I disagreed with the way my local church wanted me to understand and handle this situation.

  Very often Often Seldom Not at all
25. I disagreed with the way my sponsoring organization wanted me to understand and handle this situation.

  Very often Often Seldom Not at all
26. I felt that the event was God’s way of punishing me for my sins and lack of spirituality.

  Very often Often Seldom Not at all
27. I wondered whether God had abandoned me.

  Very often Often Seldom Not at all
28. I tried to make sense of the situation and decide what to do without relying on God.

  Very often Often Seldom Not at all
29. I questioned whether God really exists.

  Very often Often Seldom Not at all
30. I prayed to God to send those who were responsible for the situation to Hell.

  Very often Often Seldom Not at all
31. I expressed anger at God for letting such a terrible thing happen.

  Very often Often Seldom Not at all
32. I thought about turning away from God and living for myself alone.

  Very often Often Seldom Not at all
33. I considered giving up my mission work.

  Very often Often Seldom Not at all
34. I sought God’s love and care.

  Very often Often Seldom Not at all
35. I sought help from God in letting go of my negative emotions.

  Very often Often Seldom Not at all
36. I tried to put my plans into action together with God.

  Very often Often Seldom Not at all
37. I tried to see how God might be trying to strengthen me in this situation.

  Very often Often Seldom Not at all
38. I focused on my faith in God to stop worrying about my problems.

  Very often Often Seldom Not at all
39. I focused on religious rituals to stop worrying about my problems.

  Very often Often Seldom Not at all
40. I felt punished by God for my lack of devotion.

  Very often Often Seldom Not at all
41. I wondered what I did for God to punish me.

  Very often Often Seldom Not at all
42. I questioned God’s love for me.

  Very often Often Seldom Not at all
43. I wondered whether my local church had abandoned me.

  Very often Often Seldom Not at all
44. I wondered whether my sponsoring organization had abandoned me.

  Very often Often Seldom Not at all
45. I decided the devil made this happen.

  Very often Often Seldom Not at all
46. I questioned the power of God.

  Very often Often Seldom Not at all
47. I sang inspirational songs.

  Very often Often Seldom Not at all
48. I listened to inspirational music.

49. Are there other responses to this stressful situation that were not covered in this survey?
  No, the survey covered my responses.
  Yes, I had additional responses.

Please describe those responses.

50. Is there anything else you would like to tell us about how you handled this stressful situation?

Thank you for sharing your time and work with us! If you would like a summary of our research when it is completed, please provide your contact information here.



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