Date
4-17-2024
Department
School of Education
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Education (PhD)
Chair
Susan Stanley
Keywords
COVID 19 pandemic, mandate, pastors, spiritual injury, moral injury, mental anxiety, phenomenological, qualitative research, emotional distress disorder, cognitive appraisal theory, cognitive appraisal theory of emotions, emotional regulation, work stress, emotional disruption, worship
Disciplines
Leadership Studies
Recommended Citation
Shannon, Earnest L., "Emotional Shared Experiences: A Phenomenological Qualitative Transcendental Study on the Shared Experiences of Ten Pastors in Rural Central Virginia Due to the COVID 19 Mandate That Closed Their Houses of Worship" (2024). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 5395.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/5395
Abstract
The purpose of this qualitative transcendental phenomenological research study was to describe the shared emotional experiences of 10 senior pastors of Christian churches located in rural central Virginia due to the national COVID 19 mandate that forced them to close their houses of worship. Moreover, in the United States of America, a COVID 19 mandate was implemented that closed places of worship, which altered the American pastor’s routine schedule. Therefore, the central research question explicated in this research study was, “What are the personal emotions experienced by 10 senior pastors in rural Virginia during a phenomenon, the national COVID 19 mandate, that closed houses of worship?” To note, this research study journeyed to discover if these pastors experienced spiritual injury due to this COVID 19 mandate. Furthermore, to discover the influence of the COVID 19 phenomenon that affected these American pastors, this research study implemented a qualitative research method, which utilized the transcendental phenomenological qualitative research design to research their exposure to spiritual injury and to mental health anxiety disorder due to the COVID 19 mandate that closed their churches.
