A Measurement of Spirituality

Purpose:  To develop an instrument that measures one’s unified nature (spirituality) as separate from a set of dogmatic beliefs (religion).

Methods:

Empirical referents are external measures of a concept grounded in the real world and are used for instrument development in research.  Clinically they assist in clearly discerning the presence of a concept (Walker & Avant, 1995).  A measurement of spirituality should include statements that reflect an individual’s belief system, a connectedness with others, a higher power, and the universe, as well as a feeling of self-worth, hope and purpose.

A 30-item Likert scale (strongly agreed to strongly disagree) was created using the following concepts as guides:

1. A sense of connectedness or oneness
2. Transcendence
3. A non-local presence (otherworldly)
4. Inner peace
5. Actualization
6. Forgiveness
7. Trust
8. Unconditional giving
9. Acceptance of the unchangeable.

A pilot test resulted in a reduction to 15 items, which were edited for clarity and circulated to a convenience sample of 188 individuals.  Participants had a range of educational and socioeconomic backgrounds, and included both males and females.

Results:

Using factor analysis to extract the underlying communality of one factor among the items in the instrument, a scree plot of eigenvalues was obtained.  Absolute values less than 0.30 were suppressed, which resulted in three items being removed to strengthen the measure of one factor.  The Cronbach’s Alpha reliability coefficient for 12 items was 0.88, a good indication of construct reliability.

 Conclusion :

Spirituality, the construct of interest for this scale, is an essential philosophy of life centered on the awareness of a pervasive universal creative force that provides a sense of interconnectedness and an awareness of purpose and meaning in life as an ongoing process to transcend the physical existence in daily life (Bennington, 2003).

The existing scales in the literature that measure spirituality all include religion as part of the construct.  This instrument appears to consistently measure the factors that theoretically reflect the concept of spirituality without the concept of religion or religiosity.

Additional testing on larger populations, including non-English speaking persons, would provide additional support for both the reliability of the instrument and the validity of the theoretical understanding of spirituality.

Measure of Spirituality Directions: For each of the following statements, check the choice that best indicates the extent of your agreement or disagreement as it describes your personal experiences.                             A = Strong Agree B = Agree C = Neither Agree or Disagree                                          D = Disagree E = Strongly Disagree 1. I feel a sense of connection to something larger than myself. 2. I believe that all people are spiritual beings. 3. I believe everything in life has meaning. 4. I believe my life has a purpose. 5. My faith provides me with inner peace. 6. I forgive others who have hurt me. 7. I trust in the wisdom of the universe. 8. There is meaning and purpose in all life. 9. I feel valuable as a person. 10. I have faith in a higher creative force. 11. I believe that all things are possible. 12. I am capable of unconditional love. 13. It is possible to develop a moral code without religion. 14. Nature is a spiritual force in itself. 15. Spirituality is a part of my daily life..

 

Component Matrix
Extraction Method:  Principle component analysis with one factor extracted.
Item	1 Factor
Sense of connection	.733
All people spiritual	.521
Everything has meaning	.691
My life has purpose	.769
Faith gives inner peace	.778
Forgiveness of others	.599
8.   All life has purpose	.708
9.   I am valuable person	.548
10.   Faith in higher source	.718
11.   All things are possible	.576
12.   Unconditional love	.522
15.   Spirituality part of daily life	.767