| This study examines how the Elijah House prayer counseling intervention affects client surrender to God, symptoms of depression and anxiety, and spiritual well-being. In this study, I hypothesized that individuals participating in the week-long intensive counseling sessions would show significant improvement on outcomes from pre-treatment assessment to post-treatment assessment, and that these positive changes will be maintained to post-test-two.;Nineteen adults, (68.4%) female, (31.6%) male, served as participants. This group was comprised of Caucasian Americans (89.5%), Asian Americans (5.3%), and Canadians (5.3%). Participants were individuals who contacted Elijah House to schedule a week of counseling at Elijah House. Four measures were administered to participants at three time periods: (a) before treatment; (b) after treatment; and (c) three months post-treatment. Seven one-way within-subjects ANOVAs were conducted with the factor being treatment (pre-treatment, post-treatment, and three-months post-treatment) and the dependent variables being the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale, the STAI Y-1 (State) and Y-2 (Trait) Anxiety Inventory, the Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWB), the Religious Well-Being Scale (RWB), the Existential Well-Being Scale (EWB), and the Surrender to God Scale. The ANOVAs showed that there were significant differences between at least two means for all outcome measures. The tests of within-subjects contrasts indicated that the linear trend in the treatment factor was significant for depression, (Trait) anxiety, (SWB), and (RWB) scores, meaning that counselees showed significant improvement on outcomes measured by these scales from Time 1 to Time 2, and these outcomes were maintained through measurement Time 3. Seven paired-samples t tests were conducted to evaluate the differences between the means for all outcome measures. While counselees showed significant improvement on outcomes measured by the (State) Anxiety Inventory Form Y-1, the Existential Well-Being Scale (EWB), and the Surrender Scale from measurement Time 1 to 2, these outcomes were not maintained through measurement Time 3. It is interesting to note that measurement Time 3 Surrender to God levels were higher than Time 1 levels, even though the significantly improved levels measured at Time 2 were not maintained through Time 3. (State) Anxiety has been shown to assess transitory anxiety, measuring how respondents feel in the moment. |
