Cognitive and Psychopathological Profile on Catholic Nuns in Puerto Rico: An exploratory study

Resumen

Introduction: The vocation of Catholic nun has spread virtually throughout the world for hundreds of years. The purpose of this pioneer nun study in Puerto Rico is to generate a comprehensive cognitive and psychopathological profile in a particular sample that usually shares a similar environment and lifestyle. Even though, nuns have been studied in the United States and other parts of the world, no known study conducted with Puerto Rican nuns has been found in local academic databases explored in the last ten years using the subject keywords (i.e., Puerto Rican Nuns) in data search. Method: The sample consists of 25 female catholic nuns, residents in Puerto Rico, with a median age of 60.96 years old (SD= 17.594; RANGE= 61). A Non-probability sampling method was utilized to retrieve the participants.  Instruments: Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), Beck Hopelessness Inventory (BHS), Symptom Checklist 90-R and Folstein Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE).  Findings: Significant findings among BDI-II results (t=2.377, p<.05), BHS results (t=34.671, p<.05) and Mini-mental examination (t=16.613, p<.05). An ANOVA was conducted evaluate significant differences among the subscales of the 90-Symptom Checklist Significant differences were found. Conclusion: Results suggest that symptoms of psychopathology are present predominantly at a minimal level. However, mild to moderate results were also found. Nuns in the sample showed high cognitive functioning and were capable of performing the tasks assigned. Future research may include a bigger sample and comparisons among cloistered and apostolic nuns. A mixed methodology is suggested.