Religious symbols offer inner strength

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how devout Catholics described how they used religious symbols and teachings to cope during times of personal challenges in southeastern Virginia in the United States of America. The sample included the faithful southeastern Virginia, who used religious symbols and teachings on a regular

basis and actively worshipped in a church building or remotely a minimum of once a month. The theoretical foundation was Symbolic Interactionism Theory. The instruments to collect the data included questionnaires and semi-structured interviews.