Exploring Spiritual Beliefs and Quality of Life Among Transwomen (Hijra) in South India

Title

Exploring Spiritual Beliefs and Quality of Life Among Transwomen (Hijra) in South India

Creator

Paul Pudushery, Asha; Arur, Aditi Ashok

Description

The study aims to explore and investigate the relationship between spiritual beliefs and quality of life (QoL) among transwomen (Hijra) in South India. In one way, discrimination faced by transwomen in religious spaces may contribute to weakened spiritual beliefs, which may contribute to poor quality of life. In other ways, spiritual beliefs help them to improve their quality of life. Hence, it would be essential to explore how transwomen of different faiths relate spiritual beliefs to mental health and QoL. This study is a quantitative cross-sectional exploration of a sample of 302 transwomen selected using convenient sampling from five states of South India. The tools were culturally validated (n = 15) before being used for the study, and the reliability of the Spiritual Belief Scale (SBS), ? = 0.886; Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21), ? = 0.926; and Quality of Life scale (WHOQOL-Brief), ? = 0.953 was confirmed. Spearmans correlation, multiple linear regression, and mediation analysis were conducted to understand the relationship among the variables. The results revealed a strong positive correlation between spiritual beliefs and QoL. Depression, anxiety, and stress have a significant negative relationship with QoL. Spiritual beliefs are strong predictors of the QoL of transwomen, and they mediate the connection between depression, anxiety, stress, and QoL. This study emphasizes addressing transwomens mental health and QoL through counseling approaches that integrate and reinforce their spiritual beliefs. The findings show the urgent need for targeted culturally sensitive interventions and longitudinal studies to address these factors and enhance the well-being of the transwoman community. 2025 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Source

Journal of Social Service Research;Volume;52;Issue;2;pp.277-290

Date

01-01-2026

Publisher

Routledge

Subject

mediation; Mental health; quality of life (QOL); spiritual beliefs (SB); transwomen

Coverage

Paul Pudushery A., Psychology Department, Christ University, Bengaluru, India; Arur A.A., Psychology Department, Christ University, Bengaluru, India

Rights

Restricted Access; Hardcopy may be available in the library

Relation

ISSN: 1488376;

Format

online

Language

English

Type

Article

Identifier

https://doi.org/10.1080/01488376.2025.2533246

https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105011250835?origin=resultslist