Sem fronteiras: uma compreensão psicológica de missionários brasileiros protestantes em contextos tranculturais

Abstract

Christian missionaries from historic Protestant churches Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist and Lutheran have performed important work to spread their faith across a variety of countries. Given that their activities overseas involve a number of variables, including issues such as bureaucracy and corruption in the workplace; that they may have to work within a different social or political context than that of their homeland, having to adapt to the local culture mastering the language, coping with the different lifestyle (cognitive flexibility and acculturation) ; and that emotional problems occasionally emerge in the process, this Thesis set out to study the mental health of Brazilian Protestant missionaries in cross-cultural settings. We conducted quantitative and qualitative research, using a set of assessment instruments consisting of a demographic questionnaire; Wilson s Revised Sociocultural Adaptation Scale (SCAS-R) (2013); Martin & Rubin s Cognitive Flexibility Scale (1995); and Beck s inventories of anxiety (BAI) and depression symptoms (BDI) (2001). For statistical analysis, we used non-parametric tests such as Pearson s chi-square, Spearman s correlation, the Kruskal-Wallis, and Multiple Linear Regression, in order to understand how the variables related to the symptoms of anxiety and depression. The continuous variables were entered using a simple average, and the information obtained in the essay questions, categorized into themes for assimilation. We found an adult, gender-balanced sample of 20 men (41%) and 29 women (59%), many (20, or 41%) of whom were 31-40 year-olds, mostly (30, or 61%) married. The cross section included missionaries working in 21 identified countries and in one country that remained unnamed for safety reasons. Most respondents were with the Brazilian Baptist Convention s World Missions Committee (Junta de Missões Mundiais); 25 (or 51% of) participants had completed high school and 23 (48%) of them had an undergraduate degree; 36 (74%) were already acting as cross-cultural missionaries and 18 (37%) had been working abroad for 6 or 10 years. Of those interviewed, 49% developed the missionary activity as a career; 43 (88%) were engaged exclusively in religious activities; and their work time in the mission field averaged 45.8 hours a week.. It was observed that 35 participants had higher than expected level of anxiety for the Brazilian and global population and seven had levels of depression than expected for the world Brazilian population and global population. Cultural adaptation, as well as the type of support offered by the conjugal family (wife / husband / children); not work in gainful activities beyond the missionary service; education level, economic status and physical variables were correlated with the level of anxiety of the missionaries. With regard to depression was correlated with time missionary service performed outside Brazil; if the first experience of acting as a cross-cultural missionary and the burden of weekly working hours. Yet identified the tendency of participants to use religious coping resources as a way of coping with difficulties, many of which are not related to everyday life and faith. Pointed out the need for future research to better understand the phenomena related with the purpose of providing support and psychological care to missionaries working in cross-cultural context