Spiritual well-being and tourism: analysis of reports from pilgrims of the Way of St James of Compostela

Abstract

The objective of this study was to identify elements related to search for and experience of well-being by Brazilian pilgrims of the Way of St James of Compostela. For this, it carries out a literature review on the theme, focusing, in particular, on the psychology which characterizes spiritual well-being, based on four key dimensions: a life with significance, transcendence, intrinsic values, and a community of shared values and support. Based on this framework, an exploratory study was carried out, which analyzed the reports of 41 pilgrims who traveled the Jacobs route between 1999 ad 2005. These reports were submitted to a software program for lexical analysis, which uses artificial neural network technology and interpretation based on principles of transcendental phenomenology. The results indicate the presence of four dimensions of spiritual well-being in the pilgrims’ reports, and also, a range of contents which are not related to these dimensions (such as adventure, challenge, curiosity, getting to know other places and people, rest, among others). Key words: Spiritual well-being; Pilgrimage; Way of St James.