425
ulletin
013
RCB56210.1177/00343552124394
Brief Report
Clients’ Willingness to Incorporate
Religion or Spirituality in Counseling:
A Brief Report
Abdoulaye Diallo
Abstract
A total of 84 individuals with addiction issues (e.g., drugs, sex, weight, food, and codependency) were asked about their
willingness to incorporate religion or spirituality in their counseling. These respondents expressed willingness to deal
with religion or spirituality in counseling if the counselor was knowledgeable about their religion or spirituality. Degree of
willingness was significantly related to clients’ religious background and age.
Keywords
spirituality, counselors, clients
Religion and spirituality play a significant role in our lives.
Religiosity is an outward expression of the inner spirituality
system (Gill, Minton, & Myers, 2010), and spirituality is an
awareness of a force that gives a sense of connectedness to
the universe (Myers & Sweeney, 2005). Many scholars
(Chally & Carlson, 2004; Coleman, Mcliernan, Mills, &
Speck, 2004; Ososkie & Holzbauer, 2004; Pargament,
2009) see the importance of religion and spirituality in
counseling, and some (Karasu, 1999; Nosek 1995; Vash,
1994) have encouraged rehabilitation counselors to explore
these issues in their practice, but whether clients are open to
such exploration remains unknown.
Rehabilitation counseling research has not considered
important factors, such as the differences in religion between
counselors and clients as well as counselors’ knowledge regarding
the religion of the clients, which can hinder clients’ willingness
to incorporate religion and spirituality in counseling. Therefore,
this study focused on the willingness of individuals with addiction
(e.g., drugs, sex, weight, food, and codependency) at counsel-
ing facilities in a midwestern state to incorporate religion or
spirituality in their counseling sessions.
Research Question 1: Are individuals with addiction
willing for their counselor to include spiritual or
religious issues in their counseling sessions: (a)
Are individuals with addiction willing for their
counselor to include spiritual or religious issues
in their counseling sessions in general? (b) If the
counselor’s religion or spirituality is different
from the clients’ (those with addiction issues), but
the counselor is knowledgeable about the clients’
religion or spirituality? (c) If the counselor’s religious
Downloaded from rcb.sagepub.com at PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV on March 5, 2016
Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin
56(2) 120­–122
© Hammill Institute on Disabilities 2013
Reprints and permission: http://www.
sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav
DOI: 10.1177/0034355212439425
http://rcb.sagepub.com
or spiritual background is the same as the clients’
but the counselor is not knowledgeable about cli-
ents’ religion or spirituality?
Research Question 2: Do individuals with addiction
issues tend to prefer (a) a counselor with the same
religion/spirituality as them but not informed/
knowledgeable about their religion or spirituality,
(b) a counselor with a different religion from theirs
but informed/knowledgeable about their religion/
spirituality, or (c) neither of these.
Research Question 3: Does age, gender, education, or
religion affect individuals’ (with addiction issues)
willingness for their counselor to include religion/
spiritual issues in their counseling sessions: (a)
Does age, gender, education, or religion affect
individuals’ (with addiction issues) willingness for
their counselor to include religion/spiritual issues
in their counseling sessions in general? (b) If the
counselor’s religion or spirituality is different from
the clients’ (those with addiction issues), but the
counselor is knowledgeable about the clients’ reli-
gion or spirituality? (c) If the counselor’s religious
or spiritual background is the same as the clients’
but the counselor is not knowledgeable about cli-
ents’ religion or spirituality?
University of Texas–Pan American, Edinburg, USA
Corresponding Author:
Abdoulaye Diallo, Department of Rehabilitation, University of Texas—Pan
American, 1201 West University Drive, Edinburg, Texas, 78539-2999,
HSHW 1.126, USA
Email: dialloa@utpa.edu
Diallo 121

Table 1. Logistic Regression Model for Clients’ Willingness

Question 5a  Logistic regression model for client’ willingness if the faith of the counselor is different.

Variable B SE Wald df p Exp(B) 95% CI for Exp(B)

Age 0.039 0.025 2.461 1 .117 1.039 [0.990, 1.091]
Gender -0.620 0.530 1.369 1 .242 0.538 [0.190, 1.520]
Education 0.424 0.511 0.690 1 .406 1.529 [0.561, 4.162]
Religion 0.2.374 1.108 4.591 1 .032 10.736 [1.224, 94.139]

Question 5b  Logistic regression model for clients’ willingness if the faith of the counselor is different, but he or she is knowledgeable
about clients’ religion/spirituality.

Variable B SE Wald df p Exp(B) 95% CI for Exp(B)

Age 0.061 0.027 4.992 1 .025 1.063 [1.008, 1.121]
Gender −0.861 0.568 2.300 1 .129 0.423 [0.139, 1.286]
Education 0.718 0.556 1.667 1 .197 0.423 [0.139, 1.286]
Religion 1.747 1.120 2.433 1 .119 5.738 [0.639, 51.550]

Method have limited knowledge about their religion, (b) different

Participants were recruited from four facilities in a
Midwestern state that serve individuals with addictions.
Almost all of the participants were White (70.5%), fol-
lowed by Blacks (22.19%), Hispanic (4.8%), and Asian
(2%). In all, 80% were Christians, followed by Atheist
(11%) and Muslims (1%), with ages (M = 43.84, SD =
11.11) ranging from 20 to 68. Of the 102 paper-based sur-
vey questionnaires distributed, 84 were usable.
Data Analysis
Descriptive statistic and logistic regression were used to
analyze the data. Age, gender, religion, and education were
entered into the regression model, and their effects were
investigated with each of the outcome variables.
Results
For Research Question 1a, almost all of the participants
(97.6%) were willing for their counselors to include
spirituality in their counseling sessions. For Research
Question 1b, 63.1% favored the inclusion of spirituality
or religion in their counseling when the religion or spiri-
tuality of the counselor is different from theirs, but the
counselor is knowledgeable about their religion or spiri-
tuality. For Research Question 1c, 73.8% were not will-
ing to incorporate spirituality or religion in their session
when the religion or spirituality of the counselor is the
same as theirs, but the counselor is not knowledgeable
about their religion. However, for Research Question 2,
where participants were asked to choose among counsel-
ors who are of (a) the same religion/faith as theirs, but
religion from them, but knowledgeable about their reli-
gion, and (c) neither of the above two options, 59.5%
chose the second option, whereas 21.4% chose the third
option and 13.1% chose the first option (5% of the sam-
ple did not respond to this question). That is, participants
preferred counselors’ knowledge about their religion or
spirituality over counselors’ religious background (by
more than two to one).
Questions 3a, 3b, and 3c were analyzed using logistic
regression, as shown in Table 1. Religion was significant for
Question 3a (odds ratio = 10.74; 95% confidence interval
[CI] = [1.22, 94.14]), and age (odds ratio = 1.06; 95% CI =
[1.01, 1.12]) for Question 3b. For Research Question 3c,
demographic and other variables—age (odds ratio = 0.96;
95% CI = [0.90, 1.01]), gender (odds ratio = 0.86; 95% CI =
[0.28, 2.67]), education (odds ratio = 1.24; 95% CI = [0.41,
3.71]), and religion (odds ratio = 0.33; 95% CI = [0.03,
3.0])—were not significant. That is, the variables had no
effect on individuals’ (with addiction) willingness for their
counselor to include religion/spiritual issues in their coun-
seling sessions (if the counselor’s religious or spiritual back-
ground is the same as the client’s but the counselor is not
knowledgeable about the client’s religion or spirituality).
Discussion
The findings in this study are consistent with the findings
of Rose, Westefeld, and Ansley (2001), who found that
most clients were willing to incorporate spirituality into
their counseling. In the current study, for participants’
willing to incorporate religion or spirituality into their
counseling, counselors’ knowledge about the religion or

Downloaded from rcb.sagepub.com at PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV on March 5, 2016

122 Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin 56(2)
spirituality of the clients were more important than the
counselors’ religious background. Given this finding, train-
ing programs may want to consider helping preservice
students learn about different religions and spirituality as
they relate to counseling.
However, a small percentage (13.1) of participants pre-
ferred counselors of the same religious or spirituality back-
ground even if the counselor was not knowledgeable about
their religion or spirituality (while we expect a person to be
knowledgeable about his or her faith, it is not uncommon
for a person to have little or no knowledge about his or her
faith—for example, many nominal religious individuals). In
certain cases, rehabilitation agencies may need to help cli-
ents get a choice of counselors who can benefit them, most
preferably one with the same religious or spiritual back-
ground as the clients and who is knowledgeable about the
clients’ religion or spirituality, especially for those clients
who prefer only a counselor of the same religion or spiritual
background, or agencies can refer clients (to a counselor of
the same religious or spiritual background as the clients and
one who is knowledgeable about the clients’ religion or
spirituality).
That religion and age were significant was not surpris-
ing. Christians were more willing than non-Christians to
include religion or spirituality into their counseling proba-
bly because integrating religion or spirituality into counsel-
ing in America is mostly done within Christian settings. For
age, research has shown that age can influence people’s
religious views. In particular, older people consider religion
more important compared with younger generations accord-
ing to a Pew Research (Salman, 2009).
Limitations
Generalizing to other populations is limited because a con-
venience sample with the following limitations was used:
(a) the majority of the participants were Caucasian and
Christian, (b) the sample size was small, and (c) the par-
ticipants were all located in one medium size city and thus
do not represent all persons with disabilities.
Directions for Further Research
The nonsignificant result for gender and education was
unexpected. Research has shown that females are more
religious than males (Vaus & McAllister, 1987) and there-
fore might be more willing to incorporate religion in their
counseling. For education, one would think that those who
have higher education might consider knowledge of coun-
selors about the religion/spirituality of the client more
important (in terms of helping a client who is interested in
incorporating religion/spirituality in counseling) than those
with lower education. These areas would be fruitful for
further research. Researchers can replicate this study to see
Downloaded from rcb.sagepub.com at PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIV on March 5, 2016
whether their results are the same or different from this
study’s findings.
Acknowledgments
I would like to acknowledge Dr. Strohmer, the editor of the
Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin, Dr. Schwille, and
Dr. Chan for their great feedbacks, and Trinity Church of
Lansing /Celebrate Recovery. City Refuge of Lansing, and
the other organizations that participated in this study.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with
respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this
article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research,
authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Reference
Chally, P. S., & Carlson, J. M. (2004). Spirituality, rehabilitation
and aging. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation,
85, 60–65.
Coleman, P. E., Mcliernan, F., Mills, M., & Speck, P. (2004). Sure
and uncertain faith beliefs and coping with loss of spouse in
the later life. Ageing & Society, 27, 869–875.
Gill, C. S., Minton, C. A., & Myers, J. E. (2010). Spirituality
and religion. Journal of Counseling & Development, 88,
293–302.
Karasu, T. B. (1999). Spirituality psychotherapy. American Jour-
nal of Psychotherapy, 53(2), 143–163.
Myers, J. E., & Sweeney, T. J. (2005). Counseling for wellness.
Alexandra, VA: American Psychological Association.
Nosek, M. A. (1995). The defining Light of Vedanta. Rehabilita-
tion Education, 9(2), 171–181.
Ososkie, J. N., & Holzbauer, J. J. (2004). Logo therapy. In F.
Chan, N. L. Berven, & K. R. Thomas (Eds.), In counseling
theory and techniques for rehabilitation health professionals
(pp. 118–133). New York, NY: Springer.
Parament, K. I. (2009). God help me: Toward a theoretical frame-
work of coping for the psychology of religion. Research in
the Social Scientific Study of Religion, 2, 195-224.
Rose, E. M., Westefeld, J. S., & Ansley, T. N. (2001). Spiritual
issues in counseling clients’ beliefs and preferences. Journal
of Counseling Psychology, 48, 61–71.
Salman, J. (2009, June 30). Old, young do not see eye to eye in wid-
ening generation gap. Tribute Business News. Religion among
the millennials. Retrieved April 24, 2012. from http://www
.pewforum.org/Age/Religion-Among-the-Millennials.aspx
Vash, C. L. (1994). Personality and adversity. New York, NY:
Springer.
Vaus, D. D., & McAllister, I. (1987). Gender differences in Reli-
gion: A test of structural location theory. American Sociology
Review, 52, 472–481.