Cross-Cultural Views and Perceptions of Spiritual Health and Well-Being in Home Economics Sites: Public Expressions and Social Enactments

Abstract

This research establishes that home economics and spiritual health and well-being are inextricably linked. Home economics as a profession and field of study has featured in education systems across the globe for more than a century. Recent United Nations literature about various global crisis concerns identified spirituality as key to human well-being and planetary health. Yet, there is a deficiency of health and education research which focuses on spirituality. Well-being, health and quality of life are variously defined, and typically include social, emotional, intellectual, physical, environmental and spiritual dimensions. These concepts are considered foundational knowledge for home economists. However, insufficient evidence-based research has been conducted to inform official educational policy, which means that spiritual dimensions of health and well-being remain largely unexplored in home economics. This research highlights the significance of spiritual health and well-being for home economists in order to provide guidance for teaching practice and policy interpretation. To this end, three research aims guided this study: 1) develop and refine a conceptual framework to observe spiritual health and well-being in home economics sites, literally forming the ‘signs’ of spirituality; 2) locate produced, recontextualised and reproduced language-in-use and spiritual discourses within a variety of home economics sites; and 3) discover shared meaning for spiritual health and well-being amongst home economists from cross-cultural backgrounds.