Spirituality, Identity and Belonging: Exploring Mental Well Being among the Coptic Community in the United States
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Date
2022-05
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
The Coptic population is a native Egyptian Christian population representing a minority status in
their country of origin and religious identification. As a minoritized Orthodox Christian population
in a constitutionally Islamic state of Egypt, the Copts have endured suffering in their homeland,
which in most cases, forced them to migrate from the only home they know and brought many
challenges to their migration. The Coptic diaspora in the United States is a minority representative religious diaspora community, which remains hidden and largely understudied.
Mental well-being remains to be a huge concern among the Coptic diaspora population in the
United States. Using a quantitative online survey design, this study aimed to explore the role of
spirituality, identity, and sense of belonging on the overall mental well-being among the Coptic
community in the United States. The online survey used quantitative measures on spiritual
experience, belonging, identity, anxiety, and depression and few open-ended questions on the
meaning of mental health, Coptic identity, and issues in the Coptic community. Quantitative
findings of the study (N= 171) showed high levels of spirituality and Coptic identity, challenged
sense of belonging, and high levels of anxiety and depression faced among survey
respondents. Qualitative findings from the open-ended questions corroborated quantitative
findings and highlighted mental health as a significant problem facing the Coptic population.
Three themes emerged from the qualitative data: (1) meaning of mental health; (2) Coptic
community identity; and (3) issues facing Coptic community: challenged sense of identity and
mental health. Findings provide implications for culturally appropriate spiritual practices and
collaboration with faith-based institutions to implement targeted mental health programs. This
study sheds light on the experiences of minority-representative diasporas and unravels the role
of spirituality in addressing mental health issues.
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Keywords
Identity, Belonging, Coptic, Mental Well Being, Welcoming, Orthodox