Cognitive-Emotional Regulation and Psycho-Spiritual Well-Being among Catholic Consecrated Men and Women in Ibadan Archdiocese, Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigated the relationship between cognitive-emotional regulation and psycho-spiritual well-being among Catholic consecrated men and women in Ibadan Archdiocese, Oyo State, Nigeria. It sought to determine the level of cognitive-emotional regulation employed, assess psycho-spiritual well-being, examine the relationship between the two constructs, and identify strategies that can enhance well-being. The research was guided by Gross’ Process Model of Emotion Regulation (1998) and Viktor Frankl’s Logotherapy (1946).
An embedded mixed-methods research design was used with a population of 624 consecrated men and women and a sample of 244 participants, comprising 95 priests, 56 sisters, and 93 brothers, selected using Yamane’s formula. Quantitative data were collected using the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ) by Garnefski and Kraaij (2001) and the Psycho-Spiritual Well-being Scale (P-SWBS) by Egunjobi et al. (2023).
Qualitative data from seven consecrated men and women, were obtained through interviews and analysed thematically using NVivo while quantitative data were analysed with SPSS version 25. Findings revealed that participants predominantly used adaptive strategies, with positive reappraisal (M = 3.72) and refocus on planning (M = 3.69) scoring highest, while maladaptive strategies such as other-blame (M = 1.88) and catastrophizing (M = 1.94) were often used. Psycho-spiritual well-being was generally high, with connectedness scoring highest (M = 4.20) and self-transcendence lowest (M = 4.13). A moderate positive relationship was found between cognitive-emotional regulation and psycho-spiritual well-being r (139) = .353, p < .001. Qualitative findings identified eight strategies for enhancing psycho-spiritual well-being. The study concludes that integrating psychological and spiritual care is essential for holistic well-being of consecrated men and women.