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Measures of Spirituality/Religiosity—Description of Concepts and Validation of Instruments

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A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (29 February 2016) | Viewed by 88427

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Prof. Dr. Arndt Büssing

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Professorship Quality of Life, Spirituality and Coping, Faculty of Health, Witten/Herdecke University, Gerhard-Kienle-Weg 4, 58313 Herdecke, Germany
Interests: mind-body medicine approaches; spirituality and health; quality of life; coping; questionnaire development; integrative medicine; clinical studies; health service research; spiritual dryness; awe
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue focuses on the description of concepts and the validation of new or already established questionnaires to measure specific aspects of spirituality/religiosity and related topics. Additionally, cultural adaptations and short-forms of such instruments are welcomed, particularly welcome are their application in different cultural contexts.

Prof. Dr. Arndt Büssing
Guest Editor

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Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

References:

The Daily Spiritual Experience Scale: Overview and Results by Lynn G. Underwood

Religions 2011, 2(1), 29-50

Spiritual Well-Being as a Component of Health-Related Quality of Life: The Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy—Spiritual Well-Being Scale (FACIT-Sp) by Jason M. Bredle, John M. Salsman, Scott M. Debb, Benjamin J. Arnold and David Cella

Religions 2011, 2(1), 77-94

Spirituality as a Resource to Rely on in Chronic Illness: The SpREUK Questionnaire by Arndt Büssing Religions 2010, 1(1), 9-17; doi:10.3390/rel1010009

Keywords

concepts
questionnaires
short forms
validation
translation

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Published Papers (11 papers)

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Editorial

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144 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Measures of Spirituality/Religiosity—Description of Concepts and Validation of Instruments

by Arndt Büssing

Religions 2017, 8(1), 11; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel8010011 - 16 Jan 2017

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 4323

Abstract

Why do we need some more questionnaires to measure aspects of spirituality/religiosity when we already have so many well-tried instruments in use?[...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Measures of Spirituality/Religiosity—Description of Concepts and Validation of Instruments)

Research

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176 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

The Internal Consistency Reliability of the Katz-Francis Scale of Attitude toward Judaism among Australian Jews

by Patrick Lumbroso, Kirill Fayn, Niko Tiliopoulos and Leslie J. Francis

Religions 2016, 7(10), 123; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel7100123 - 30 Sep 2016

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 5304

Abstract

The Katz-Francis Scale of Attitude toward Judaism was developed initially to extend among the Hebrew-speaking Jewish community in Israel a growing body of international research concerned to map the correlates, antecedents and consequences of individual differences in attitude toward religion as assessed by the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity. The present paper explored the internal consistency reliability and construct validity of the English translation of the Katz-Francis Scale of Attitude toward Judaism among 101 Australian Jews. On the basis of these data, this instrument is commended for application in further research. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Measures of Spirituality/Religiosity—Description of Concepts and Validation of Instruments)

540 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

The NERSH International Collaboration on Values, Spirituality and Religion in Medicine: Development of Questionnaire, Description of Data Pool, and Overview of Pool Publications

by Niels Christian Hvidt, Alex Kappel Kørup, Farr A. Curlin, Klaus Baumann, Eckhard Frick, Jens Søndergaard, Jesper Bo Nielsen, René DePont Christensen, Ryan Lawrence, Giancarlo Lucchetti, Parameshwaran Ramakrishnan, Azimatul Karimah, Andreas Schulze, Inga Wermuth, Esther Schouten, René Hefti, Eunmi Lee, Nada A. AlYousefi, Christian Balslev van Randwijk, Can Kuseyri, Tryphon Mukwayakala, Miriam Wey, Micha Eglin, Tobias Opsahl and Arndt Büssing Show full author list Hide full author list

Religions 2016, 7(8), 107; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel7080107 - 23 Aug 2016

Cited by 30 | Viewed by 9557

Abstract

Modern healthcare research has only in recent years investigated the impact of health care workers’ religious and other moral values on medical practice, interaction with patients, and ethically complex decision-making. Thus far, no international data exist on the way such values vary across different countries. We therefore established the NERSH International Collaboration on Values in Medicine with datasets on physician religious characteristics and values based on the same survey instrument. The present article provides (a) an overview of the development of the original and optimized survey instruments, (b) an overview of the content of the NERSH data pool at this stage and (c) a brief review of insights gained from articles published with the questionnaire. The questionnaire was developed in 2002, after extensive pretesting in the United States and subsequently translated from English into other languages using forward-backward translations with Face Validations. In 2013, representatives of several national research groups came together and worked at optimizing the survey instrument for future use on the basis of the existing datasets. Research groups were identified through personal contacts with researchers requesting to use the instrument, as well as through two literature searches. Data were assembled in Stata and synchronized for their comparability using a matched intersection design based on the items in the original questionnaire. With a few optimizations and added modules appropriate for cultures more secular than that of the United States, the survey instrument holds promise as a tool for future comparative analyses. The pool at this stage consists of data from eleven studies conducted by research teams in nine different countries over six continents with responses from more than 6000 health professionals. Inspection of data between groups suggests large differences in religious and other moral values across nations and cultures, and that these values account for differences in health professional’s clinical practices. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Measures of Spirituality/Religiosity—Description of Concepts and Validation of Instruments)

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200 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Children’s Spiritual Lives: The Development of a Children’s Spirituality Measure

by Kelsey Moore, Carlos Gomez-Garibello, Sandra Bosacki and Victoria Talwar

Religions 2016, 7(8), 95; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel7080095 - 25 Jul 2016

Cited by 19 | Viewed by 7920

Abstract

Previous researchers who have studied children’s spirituality have often used narrow measures that do not account for the rich spiritual experiences of children within a multi-faith context. In the current study, we describe the initial stages of development of a children’s spirituality measure, in which items were derived from children’s spiritual narratives. An exploratory factor analysis of the items revealed three main factors, including Comfort (Factor 1), Omnipresence (Factor 2), and Duality (Factor 3). As rated by their parents, children from families that were more spiritual and religious had higher scores on the newly-developed measure. Limitations and future directions are discussed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Measures of Spirituality/Religiosity—Description of Concepts and Validation of Instruments)

208 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Exploratory Psychometric Properties of the Farsi and English Versions of the Spiritual Needs Questionnaire (SpNQ)

by Nazi Nejat, Lisa Whitehead and Marie Crowe

Religions 2016, 7(7), 84; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel7070084 - 28 Jun 2016

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 4857

Abstract

The aim of this study was to translate and test the psychometric properties of a Farsi and an English version of the spiritual needs questionnaire (SpNQ) a measure originally developed in German. The World Health Organization guideline for translating and validating questionnaires was used. Participants were recruited from hospitals in Iran and New Zealand during an outpatient follow-up appointment after cancer treatment. People diagnosed with cancer in Iran (68) and New Zealand (54) completed and returned the SpNQ (at time 1) and within the two week time period (time 2). Cronbach’s alpha ranged from 0.79 to 0.92, except for the existentialistic domain of the SpNQ (0.53–0.54). The coefficient of variation (CV) indicated minimal random variation between the assessments; the measures were generally stable, except for the item “existentialistic”. The translated versions of the SpNQ have the potential to support a comprehensive assessment of cancer patients’ spiritual needs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Measures of Spirituality/Religiosity—Description of Concepts and Validation of Instruments)

2031 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Bifactor Models of Religious and Spiritual Struggles: Distinct from Religiousness and Distress

by Nick Stauner, Julie J. Exline, Joshua B. Grubbs, Kenneth I. Pargament, David F. Bradley and Alex Uzdavines

Religions 2016, 7(6), 68; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel7060068 - 7 Jun 2016

Cited by 60 | Viewed by 8385

Abstract

The Religious and Spiritual Struggles Scale (RSS) measures important psychological constructs in an underemphasized section of the overlap between religion and well-being. Are religious/spiritual struggles distinct from religiousness, distress, and each other? To test the RSS’ internal discriminant validity, we replicated the original six-factor measurement model across five large samples (N = 5705) and tested the fit of a restricted bifactor model, which supported the mutual viability of multidimensional and unidimensional scoring systems for the RSS. Additionally, we explored a bifactor model with correlated group factors that exhibited optimal fit statistics. This model maintained the correlations among the original factors while extracting a general factor from the RSS. This general factor’s strong correlations with religious participation and belief salience suggested that this factor resembles religiousness itself. Estimating this general factor seemed to improve Demonic and Moral struggles’ independence from religiousness, but did not change any factor’s correlations with neuroticism, depression, anxiety, and stress. These distress factors correlated with most of the independent group factors corresponding to the original dimensions of the RSS, especially Ultimate Meaning and Divine struggles. These analyses demonstrate the discriminant validity of religious/spiritual struggles and the complexity of their relationships with religiousness and distress. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Measures of Spirituality/Religiosity—Description of Concepts and Validation of Instruments)

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218 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Selecting the Best Version of SHALOM to Assess Spiritual Well-Being

by John Fisher

Religions 2016, 7(5), 45; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel7050045 - 30 Apr 2016

Cited by 30 | Viewed by 9878

Abstract

This paper extends the reporting of contemporary use of the Spiritual Health and Life-Orientation Measure (SHALOM), which provides flexibility to researchers, enabling them to choose the version of the instrument that best suits the cohort under investigation. SHALOM was built on a solid theoretical foundation, provided by the Four Domains Model of Spiritual Health/Well-Being. It comprises 20 items that assess spiritual well-being, as reflected in the quality of relationships that each person has with themselves, others, the environment, and/or with God. Summary results are reported from 30 recent studies. SHALOM provides a unique form of assessment that is statistically stronger than just assessing lived experiences, in that spiritual harmony/dissonance is studied by comparing each person’s “lived experiences” with her/his “ideals” for spiritual well-being. SHALOM has been sought for use with hundreds of studies in 29 languages, in education, healthcare and wider community. A generic form of SHALOM was developed to expand the Transcendental domain to include more than God. However, recent studies have shown that relating with God is most important for spiritual well-being. The best version of SHALOM to assess spiritual well-being depends on the needs of the clients/participants and the project goals of the researcher. This will involve a selection between the original form of Spiritual Well-Being Questionnaire-SHALOM for comparison with other measures and investigation of characteristics influencing spiritual well-being; or the dissonance method for spiritual care; and either the original or the generic version of SHALOM for use with non-religious/secular participants. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Measures of Spirituality/Religiosity—Description of Concepts and Validation of Instruments)

844 KiB

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Validity and Reliability of a Revised Scale of Attitude towards Buddhism (TSAB-R)

by Phra Nicholas Thanissaro

Religions 2016, 7(5), 44; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel7050044 - 28 Apr 2016

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 5719

Abstract

The empirical properties of a revised 24-item instrument called the Thanissaro Scale of Attitude towards Buddhism (TSAB-R) designed to measure Buddhist affective religiosity are described. The instrument was tested on adolescents and teenagers in the UK. Discriminant validity of the instrument was found satisfactory in relation to Buddhist affiliation and content validity in relation to religious involvement with temple attendance, scripture reading, meditation, having had a religious or spiritual experience and religious style. Unlike Christians, for Buddhists, affective religiosity was found to vary independently from age and sex. The differential between heritage and convert religious style of Buddhism was linked to the perceived affective religiosity of the Buddhist features of the home shrine and bowing to parents. Factor analysis revealed two subscales within the instrument for intellectual and affective components. With confirmation of the validity and reliability of the revised scale, the instrument is commended for measurement of Buddhist affective religiosity with adults and children down to the age of 13 years. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Measures of Spirituality/Religiosity—Description of Concepts and Validation of Instruments)

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242 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Reliance on God’s Help Scale as a Measure of Religious Trust—A Summary of Findings

by Arndt Büssing, Daniela Rodrigues Recchia and Klaus Baumann

Religions 2015, 6(4), 1358-1367; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel6041358 - 27 Nov 2015

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 7231

Abstract

This paper gives a summary of findings from studies using the five-item Reliance on God’s Help (RGH) scale, which was developed a decade ago as an integral part of a comprehensive measure to differentiate between external and internal adaptive coping strategies. It has been used for both healthy and diseased persons. We will summarize data on internal reliability scores and the distribution of mean values for the respective items in the different study samples. Also, we will present a structural equation model (SEM) to confirm the scale’s validity. Our analysis shows that the RGH scale is a short, valid, and reliable measure of a person’s strong basic trust in God (faith), regardless of what life brings. The items do not address aspects such as well-being, inner peace, or specific moods. Thus, it is important to note that the RGH scale was not per se associated with indicators of well-being or health-related quality of life, indicating distinct dimensions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Measures of Spirituality/Religiosity—Description of Concepts and Validation of Instruments)

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461 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Belief into Action Scale: A Comprehensive and Sensitive Measure of Religious Involvement

by Harold G. Koenig, Zhizhong Wang, Faten Al Zaben and Ahmad Adi

Religions 2015, 6(3), 1006-1016; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel6031006 - 25 Aug 2015

Cited by 38 | Viewed by 15483

Abstract

We describe here a new measure of religious commitment, the Belief into Action (BIAC) scale. This measure was designed to be a comprehensive and sensitive measure of religious involvement that could discriminate individuals across the religious spectrum, and avoid the problem of ceiling effects that have haunted the study of highly-religious populations. Many scales assess religious beliefs, where assent to belief is often widespread, subjective, and a superficial assessment of religious commitment. While people may say they believe, what does that mean in terms of action? This 10-item scale seeks to convert simple belief into action, where action is assessed in terms of what individuals say is most important in their lives, how they spend their time, and where they put their financial resources. We summarize here the psychometric characteristics of the BIAC in two very different populations: stressed female caregivers in Southern California and North Carolina, and college students attending three universities in Mainland China. We conclude that the BIAC is a sensitive, reliable, and valid measure of religious commitment in these two samples, and encourage research in other population groups using this scale to determine its psychometric properties more generally. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Measures of Spirituality/Religiosity—Description of Concepts and Validation of Instruments)

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Open AccessBrief Report

The Inventory of Complicated Spiritual Grief: Assessing Spiritual Crisis Following Loss

by Laurie A. Burke and Robert A. Neimeyer

Religions 2016, 7(6), 67; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel7060067 - 4 Jun 2016

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 7516

Abstract

Following the death of a loved one, many grievers endorse spirituality as a source of both solace and strain. Studies show that some grievers struggle significantly with both their relationship with God and their faith community, a condition known as complicated spiritual grief (CSG). However, researchers have lacked a simple, multidimensional, well-validated, grief-specific measure of CSG. In this brief report, we reviewed the psychometric validation process and clinical utility of a measure called the Inventory of Complicated Spiritual Grief (ICSG), which was tested with 304 Christian grievers. The 18-item ICSG was shown to have strong internal consistency, high test–retest reliability, and convergent and incremental validity and supported a two-factor model, measuring one’s insecurity with God and the disruption in one’s religious practice. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Measures of Spirituality/Religiosity—Description of Concepts and Validation of Instruments)

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