Religion and Spirituality as Diversity Topics in School Psychology Publications: A Content Analysis of School Psychology Journals

Religion and spirituality are identified as important aspects of adults’ and adolescents’ lives in the USA. Though research can strengthen school psychologists’ capacity to effectively serve religiously and spiritually diverse clients/students, limited scholarship relative to these areas of human diversity has been published in the professional school psychology literature. The purpose of this study was to review articles published in nine major school psychology journals from 2003 to 2018 to determine the extent to which the journals included diversity content related to religion and spirituality. We employed a content analysis, where six researchers used a systematic coding process to analyze the data descriptively. Of the 4534 articles we reviewed, only 17 (0.4%) articles addressed religion and spirituality. Most articles were empirical studies and included a general review of cultural issues or implications for assessment and/or intervention implementation. Implications for the field of school psychology are provided.