University of Twente Student Theses
The Benefits of Smartphone Apps for Spirituality on Individuals´ Mental Well-Being - A Qualitative Interview Study
Poggenklas, Emily (2023) The Benefits of Smartphone Apps for Spirituality on Individuals´ Mental Well-Being - A Qualitative Interview Study.
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| Abstract: | Smartphone applications for spirituality have become increasingly popular as a convenient and accessible tool for supporting individuals´ spiritual practices. Spirituality itself can be defined in a variety of ways, often referring to people striving for psychological development with a particular focus on self-growth and self-fulfilment. This thesis aimed at analysing individuals´ own perspectives on spiritual apps and exploring how users discuss their experiences with specific aspects of the apps as helpful for their mental well-being. 23 participants who regularly engage with a spiritual app participated in semi-structured interviews. The interview data was analysed thematically. This involved coding the interview transcripts and looking for created themes as participants meaning-making patterns around the functions of spiritual apps. The findings include seven themes, namely guided meditation as the creation of self-awareness, personalised notifications as an experienced support on continuing spiritual practices, gratitude exercises as a creation of increased life satisfaction, positive affirmations as the development of self-compassion, astrology for individuals´ self-understanding, reward system as personal development and feeling of success, and community forum as a form of feeling socially connected. The results contribute qualitative findings to the field of spiritual mobile applications and add recent knowledge about how users themselves talk about and experience smartphone apps for spirituality concerning their mental well-being. The findings have shown the potential beneficial effects of spiritual mobile apps on individuals' mental well-being. |
| Item Type: | Essay (Bachelor) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 77 psychology |
| Programme: | Psychology BSc (56604) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/95675 |
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