Spirituality Measures

NOTE: This listing of measures is no longer being actively maintained. Users are encouraged to check other references sources for any updates to these or other instruments.

Instrument: Daily Spiritual Experience Scale (DSES)

Instrument available from:

author, Dr. Lynn Underwood,
A PDF version of the scale may be downloaded from:  http://www.dsescale.org

The Spanish language version of the scale can be downloaded from http://www.dsescale.org/DSES_Span.pdf

There are online research projects using both the French language version and the Vietnamese language version of the DSES; see http://www.dsescale.org/

Construct/ what is being measured

The Daily Spiritual Experience Scale was to develop to measures one’s understanding of the divine and their relationship (interaction or involvement) with the divine.  The goal of this scale was to measure experiences as opposed to beliefs or behaviors.

Format: 16-item questionnaire

Key articles

Underwood, L.G. (2006). Ordinary spiritual experience: Qualitative research, interpretive guidelines, and population distribution for the Daily Spiritual Experience Scale. _Archive for the Psychology of Religion / Archiv für Religionspychologie, 28 (1), 181-218.
Underwood, L.G.,& Teresi, J.A. (2002).  The Daily Spiritual Experience Scale: Development, theoretical description, reliability, exploratory factor analysis, and preliminary construct validity using health-related data.  _Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 24 (1), 22-33.

A list of published studies using the DSES can be downloaded from: http://www.dsescale.org/Published%20Studies.pdf

Instrument: The Expressions of Spirituality Inventory

Instrument available from:

Dr. MacDonald address 1 or address 2

Construct/ what is being measured

Cognitive-Affective Orientation to Spirituality
Experiential/phenomenological dimension
Existential well-being
Paranormal and Occult beliefs
Products of spirituality
Religiousness

Format: Questionnaire

Key articles

MacDonald, D.A. (2000).  Spirituality: Description, measurement, and relation to the five factor model of personality.  Journal of Psychology, 68(1), 154-197.

MacDonald, D.A., & Holland, D. (2003). Spirituality and the MMPI-2.  Journal of _Clinical Psychology, 59(4), 399-410.

Instrument: Inclusive Spirituality Index

Instrument available from:

Burke-Muse dissertation available from UMI _Construct/ what is being measured

Inclusive Spirituality, “the degree participants find purpose and meaning in life, interdependence with others, inner peace, and transcendence with regard to spirituality” (Muse-Burke 2004: 72).

Psychological well-being
Religious Fundamentalism, “the extent to which one holds and expresses one’s religious beliefs in a fundamentalist(ic) way (Muse-Burker 2004: 73).

Spiritual Well-Being
Social Desirability, this concept was used to ascertain possible participant response bias and tendency to answer questions in a socially desirable manner.
Demographic Questionnaire, basic demographic information was collected from participants in order to gauge how representative of the population that sample was.

Format: Questionnaire (the profile includes 50 items)

Key articles

*Burke-Muse, J.L. (2004).  Development and validation of the inclusive spirituality index. UMI Dissertation Services. (UMI No. 3147328)

Instrument: Intrinsic Spirituality Scale

Instrument available from:

In below cited article*

Construct/ what is being measured

This scale adapts Allport and Ross’ scale which measured intrinsic religion to ascertain how the role of spirituality functions as being one’s “master motive.”  Additionally, the scale examines the importance of spiritual growth in one’s life, the role in which spirituality plays in decision making, the impact that spirituality has on personal growth, and how one’s spiritual beliefs impacts aspects of their life.

Format: 6-item questionnaire_Key articles

*Hodge, D.R. (2003).  The Intrinsic Spirituality Scale: A New Six-Item Instrument for assessing the Salience of Spirituality as a motivational construct.  Journal of Social Service Research, 30 (1).

Instrument: Means-Ends Spirituality Questionnaire

_Instrument available from: Dr. Fiorito,

Construct/ what is being measured

The main item being measured in this questionnaire is the relationship between spiritual and religious means and ends and psychological well-being (mental health).  The population sampled was university students/community members.
The questionnaire examined participants’ spiritual actions (prayers), spiritual feelings, spiritual relationships with others (i.e., prayer groups), and spiritual thoughts.

The first part of the study asked university students and community members who were active in local religious or spiritual groups to come up with examples of spiritual/religious expression & different goals and rationale behind goals that they are striving for.

  • 27 items were based on interviewee’s spiritual actions, spiritual feelings, spiritual relationships, and spiritual thoughts
  • 36 items dealt with participant’s rationale behind their motives. 1). Avoidance versus approach motives 2). Ordinary versus unseen reality 3). Autonomous versus external control (Fiorito 2003).


Format: Questionnaire

Key articles

Ryan, K., Fiorito, B. (2003). Means-ends spirituality questionnaire: Reliability, validity, and relationship to psychological well-being. Review of Religious Research, 45(2), 130-54.

Instrument: Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS)

Instrument available from:

http://www.psych.rochester.edu/SDT/measures/mindfulness.html

Construct/ what is being measured

The concept of mindfulness has a long lineage, dating back more than 2500 years, and writings in Self Determination Theory (SDT) have discussed the importance of this, and related qualities of consciousness for behavioral self-regulation and well-being. Mindfulness is an open or receptive awareness of and attention to what is taking place in the present. [from the project website]

Authors hypothesized that mindfulness is an individual difference characteristic.  The goal of MAAS was to “distinguish between individuals who have taken on the practice of developing greater awareness and attentional capacity and members of the general adult population” (Brown, K.W. & Ryan, R.M., 2003: 833).

  • “Self awareness”
  • “Mindfulness as a predictor of day-to-day self- regulation and well-being”
  • “Effect of Mindfulness of well-being in a clinical context” (these constructs are taken from the below cited Brown & Ryan text)

The scale has been validated in college, working adult, and cancer patient populations.

Format: 15-item self-report

Key articles

Baer, R.A., Smith,G.T., Hopkins, H., Krietemeyer, J., & Toney, L. (2006).  Using self-report assessment methods to explore facets of mindfulness.  Assessment, 13(1), 27-45.  

Schenström, A., Rönnberg, S., & Bodlund, O. (2006).  Mindfulness-based cognitive attitude training for primary care staff: A pilot study.  Complementary Health Practice and Review, 11(3), 144-152.

Brown, K.W. and Ryan, R.M. (2003). The benefits of being present: The role of mindfulness in psychological well-being. _Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 822-848. Download a PDF version

Instrument: Mysticism Scale

Instrument available from:

*Appendix of below chapter.

Construct/ what is being measured

The Mysticism Scale was developed to gauge one’s experiences with the outside world or “nothingness.”  The scale did not include any references to religious language. 
Scale was broken into eight four-item grouping.  These groupings measured:

  • interpretations of mystical experience in terms of positive affect
  • religious holiness
  • noetic quality. 

They also examined phenomenology of mystical experience by looking at one’s extrovertive state and introvertive states.  Finally, the notion of the ineffability of mystical experiences was examined.
 

Sample questions:

“I have had an experience which was both timeless and spaceless”
“I have never had an experience which was incapable of being expressed in words”

Format: Questionnaire

Key articles

*Burris, C.T. (1999). The mysticism scale: Research form D (M SCALE).  In P.C. Hill, & R.W. Hood Jr. (Eds.), Measures of religiosity (pp. 363-367). Birmingham, Alabama: Religious Education Press.

Hood, R.W. Jr., Ghorbani, N., Watson, P.J., Ghramaleki, A.F., Bing, M.N., Davison, H.K, et al. (2001).  Dimensions of the mysticism scale: Confirming the three factor structure in the United States and Iran. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 40(4), 691-705.

Reinert, D.F., & Stifler, K.R.  (1993).  Hood’s mysticism scale revisited: A factor-analytic replication.  Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 32(4), 383-388.

Instrument: The Spiritual Assessment Inventory (SAI)

Instrument available from:

Full inventory is included in the Appendix of the below cited Hall and Edwards article.

Construct/ what is being measured

This tool was designed to assess two dimensions of spiritual development: Awareness of God and Quality of Relationship with God.

Format: Questionnaire

Key articles

*Fee, J., & Ingram, J.A. (2004).  Correlation of the Holy Spirit questionnaire with the Spiritual Well-Being Scale and the Spiritual Assessment Inventory.  Journal of Psychology and Theology, 32(2), 104-114.

*Hall, T.W., & Edwards, K.J. (2002). The Spiritual Assessment Inventory: A theistic model and measure for assessing spiritual development.  Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 41(2).

*The appendix of the Fee et al. article includes the Holy Spirit Questionnaire and the appendix of the Hall article includes the Spiritual Assessment Inventory.

Instrument: The Spiritual Experience Index

Instrument available from:

Index is available in appendix of below cited article.

Construct/ what is being measured

The Spiritual Experience Index was created in order to ascertain a variety of the developmental aspects of faith.  The hypothesis of those that constructed the scale was that mature faith corresponded to a high score on the index which meant that one had a high self esteem, lower intolerance of ambiguity, and lower dogmatism (Genia 1991: 339).

Format: Questionnaire

Key articles

*Genia, V. (1991).  The spiritual experience index: A measure of spiritual maturity. Journal of Religion and Health, 30(4), 337-347.

Genia, V., & Cooke, B.A. (1998).  Women at midlife: Spiritual maturity and life satisfaction.  Journal of Religion and Health, 37(2), 115-123.

Reinert, D.F., & Bloomingdale, J.R. (2000).  Spiritual experience, religious orientation, and self-reported behavior. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 10(3), 173-180.

Watson, P.J., &Morris, R.J. (2005).  Spiritual experience and identity: Religious orientation, religious interest, and intolerance of ambiguity.  Review of Religious Research, 46(4), 371-379,

Instrument: Spiritual Health Index

Instrument available from:

Index is available in Appendix of below cited book.*

Construct/ what is being measured

The Spiritual Health Index was developed to obtain more information on what John Fisher, the author of the model, deems to be the four dimensions of “spiritual health.” 

These dimensions are personal, communal, environmental, and transcendental.

The personal dimension attempts to gauge one’s personal satisfaction with their life.  Sample statements are: I feel my life has a sense of purpose.  I often long for someone to turn to for advice. 

The communal dimension seeks to obtain information on how youth feel about their community and interactions with those within their community.  Some statements in this section are: I am worried about my attractiveness to the opposite sex.  I am worried about being bullied at school.

The environmental dimension is constructed around learning more about how one views the environment in which they life.  Statements include: There is too much violence on TV.  There is nothing I can do to help solve the world’s problems.

The last dimension is transcendental. This dimension seeks to learn more about how youth view different religious and spiritual aspects. Statements in this section include: I believe in God.  I believe fortune-tellers can tell the future.

Format: Questionnaire

Key book

Francis, L.J., & Robbins, M. (2005).  Urban hope and spiritual health: The adolescent voice. Werrington, UK: Epworth.

Instrument: Spiritual Intelligence Self-Report Inventory (SISRI)

Instrument available from: The Spiritual Intelligence Project

Investigation of a spiritual intelligence was initiated in 2006 by David B King, a graduate student at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, under the supervision of Dr. Teresa DeCicco

Available online; the SISRI is free for unlimited use by students, researchers, and practitioners, so long as the scale is referenced properly and not altered in any way, shape, or form.

Construct/ what is being measured

Spiritual intelligence is a set of adaptive mental capacities which are based on nonmaterial and transcendent aspects of reality, specifically those which are related to the nature of one’s existence, personal meaning, transcendence, and expanded states of consciousness. [from the author’s website]

The instrument has been piloted with college students.

Format:

42-item inventory_Key articles

King, D. B. (2007). Rethinking claims of spiritual intelligence: A definition, model, & measure. Unpublished master’s thesis, Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.

A number of studies are currently under way at Trent University. Click here for more information.

Instrument: Spiritual Transcendence Index

Instrument available from: In appendix of below marked article.

Construct/ what is being measured

The index was designed to ascertain one’s “subjective experiences of the sacred that affects one’s self perception, feelings, goals, and ability to transcend difficulties” (Kim et al. 2004: 863).  Additionally, the index examines that which may be “transcendent.”  The authors of the index explain that this measure was created, to determine how a person’s normal psychological and daily experiences/circumstances are transcended into one’s notion of spirituality (Seidlitz et al. 2002: 6).

Format:

8-item questionnaire

Key articles

Kim, Y., Seidlitz, L., Ro, Y., Evinger, J.S., & Duberstain, P.R. (2004).  Spirituality and affect: a function of changes in religious affiliation. Personality and Individual Differences, 37, 861-870. 

*Seidlitz, L., Abernethy, A.D., Duberstein, P.R., Evinger, J.S., Chang, T.H., & Lewis, B.L. (2002).  Development of the Spiritual Transcendence Index.  Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 41(3), 439-453.

*Spiritual Transcendence Index is in the appendix of the Seidlitz et al. article

Instrument: Spiritual Transcendence Scale/ASPIRES (Assessment of Spirituality and Religious Sentiments)

Instrument available from: Dr. Piedmont

Construct/ what is being measured

The Spiritual Transcendence Scale was developed as a tool to assess how one’s spirituality served as a motivational force in their lives.  Additionally, the scale examined “universality, a belief in the unitive nature of life, prayer fulfillment a feeling of joy and contentment that results from personal encounters with a transcendent reality, and connectedness a belief that one is part of a larger human reality that cuts across generations and groups” (Piedmont 2007: 90). 

The Spiritual Transcendence Scale consisted of three subscales that focused on: prayer fulfillment, universality, and connectedness.

Format:

20-item questionnaire (components of the Spiritual Transcendence Scale were analyzed using the five-factor model of personality).

Key articles

Bartlett, S.J., Piedmont, R., Bilderback, A., Matsumoto, A.K., & Bathon, J.M. (2003).  Spiri6tuality, well-being, and quality of life in people with Rheumatoid Arthritis.  Arthritis & Rheumatism, 49(6), 778-783.

Dy-Liacco, G.S., Kennedy, C., Parker, D.F., & Piedmont, R.L. (2005).  Spiritual transcendence as an unmediated causal predictor of psychological growth and world view among Filipinos.  Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, 16, 261-285.

French, A., & Piedmont, R.L (2005).  A psychometric evaluation of the ASPIRES short form. Poster session presented at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association, Washington, DC.

Goodman, J.M., Britton, P.J., Davis-Shama, D., & Jencius, M.J. (2005).  An exploration of spirituality and psychological well-being in a community of orthodox, conservative, and reform Jews.  Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, 16, 63-81.

Piedmont, R.L. (1999).  Does spirituality represent the sixth factor of personality? Spiritual transcendence and the five-factor model.  Journal of Personality, 67(6), 985-1013.

Piedmont, R.L. (2001).  Spiritual transcendence and the scientific study of spirituality—impact on health care—statistical data included.  Journal of Rehabilitation, 67(1). Full text available.

Piedmont, R.L. (2004).  Spiritual transcendence as a predictor of psychosocial outcome from an outpatient substance abuse program.  Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 18.3, 213-222.

Piedmont, R.L. (2004).  The logoplex as a paradigm for understanding spiritual Transcendence.  Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, 15, 263-283.

Piedmont, R.L. (2006).  Spirituality as a robust empirical predictor of psychosocial outcomes: A cross-cultural analysis.  In R.J Estes (Ed.),  Advancing Quality of Life in a Turbulent World (pp. 119-135). New York: Springer.

Piedmont, R.L. (2007).  Cross-cultural generalizability of the spiritual transcendence scale to the Philippines: Spirituality as a human universal.  Mental Health     Religion & Culture.  10(2), 89-107.

Piedmont, R.L., Hassinger, C.J., Rhorer, J., Sherman, M.F., Sherman, N.C., & Williams, J.E.G. (2007).  The relations among spirituality and religiosity and Axis II functioning in two college samples.  Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, 15, 53-72.

Piedmont, R.L., & Leach, M. (2002). Cross-cultural generalizability of the spiritual transcendence scale in India: Spirituality as a universal aspect of human experience.  American Behavioral Scientist, 45(12), 1888-1901.

Instrument: Spiritual Well-Being Questionnaire (SWBQ)

Instrument available from: *Below cited Boivin chapter.

Construct/ what is being measured

The Spiritual Well-Being Questionnaire was created in order to ascertain religiosity by looking at spiritual growth and maturity through a holistic lens.  Furthermore, the questionnaire examines an individual’s relationship with God, themselves, their community, and the environment.  Moberg (the creator of the questionnaire) (Moberg, 1984) hoped that his instrument would be useful in helping to monitor progress made by religious groups and organizations, to gauge what the vital signs are for a “healthy church,” to examine issues related to church decline and growth, and to understand the intensity of an individual’s faith.

Format: Questionnaire

Key articles

*Boivin, M.J. (1999). Spiritual well-being questionnaire.  In P.C. Hill, & R.W. Hood Jr. (Eds.),  Measures of religiosity (pp. 375-381).  Birmingham, Alabama: Religious Education Press.

Instrument: Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWB)

Instrument available from: Survey is available in the appendix of the below marked articles.

Construct/ what is being measured

This scale measures the subjective quality of a person’s life.  In order to do so this scale examines the religious quality of one’s life, their relationship with God, their religious well-being (RWB).  And secondly this scale examines a person’s existential well- being (EWB), which is one’s relationship to themselves, community, and surroundings.  The religious well-being (RWB) combined with the existential well-being produces one’s spiritual well being (SWB).

All questions focusing on RWB contain a mention of God.  In the questions examining one’s EWB, there are no religious references.

The original sample consisted of undergraduate students; initial studies were also conducted using the scale with high school students.

Format: 20-item questionnaire

Key articles Basselt, R., & Thrower, J., Barclay, J., Powers, C., Smith, A., Tindall, M., & et al. (2005).  One effort to measure implicit attitudes toward spirituality and religion. Journal of Psychology and Christianity, 24(3), 210-218.

*Boivin, M.J., Kirby, A.L., Underwood, L.K., & Silva, H. (1999).  Spiritual Well-Being Scale.  In P.C. Hill, & R.W. Hood Jr. (Eds.),  _Measures of religiosity (pp. 382- 385).  Birmingham, Alabama: Religious Education Press.

Bufford, R.K., Paloutian, R.F., & Ellison, C.W. (1991). Norms for the spiritual well-being scale. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 19, 35-48.

Ellison, C.W., & Smith, J. (1991).  Toward an integrative measure of health and well-being.  Journal of Psychology and Theology, 19(1), 35-48.

*Ellison, C.W. (1983).  Spiritual well-being: Conceptualization and measurement. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 11(4), 330-340.

Fee, J., & Ingram, J.A. (2004).  Correlation of the Holy Spirit questionnaire with the spiritual well-being scale and the spiritual assessment inventory.  Journal of Psychology and Theology, 32(2), 104-114.

*The Spiritual Well-Being Scale is available in the above noted articles.

Instrument: Spirituality Index of Well-Being (SIWB)

Instrument available from: Index is available in the appendix of the below cited Frey article.

Construct/ what is being measured

The index was created in order to measure the impacts of spirituality on subjective well-being.  It was originality designed to examine spirituality in health-related quality of life studies. The two overarching themes that this index examines are self-efficacy and life scheme.

Format: 12-item questionnaire

Key articles

Daaleman, T.P., & Frey, B.B. (2004).  The spirituality index of well-being: A new instrument for health-related quality-of-life research.  Annals of Family Medicine, 2(5), 499-503.

*Frey, B.B., Daaleman, T.P., & Peyton, V. (2005). Measuring a dimension of spirituality for health research: Validity of the Spirituality Index of Well-Being.  Research on Aging, 27, 556-577.

Instrument: Spirituality Scale (SS)

Instrument available from: we were unable to obtain scale

Construct/ what is being measured

The Spirituality Scale is based on a holistic concept of spirituality; it was constructed to ascertain one’s self discovery  (one’s search for meaning and purpose in their life), one’s connectedness with others, and one’s connection to the environment and cosmos (Wong & Torres 2005).

Format: 23-item questionnaire

Key articles

Delaney, C. (2005). The Spirituality Scale: Development and psychometric testing of a holistic instrument to assess the human spiritual dimension. Journal of Holistic Nursing, 23, 145-167.

Wong, J.Y., & Torres, R. (2005).  Research commentary on “the spirituality scale.”  Journal of Holistic Nursing, 23(2), 168-171.

Instrument: Youth Spirituality

_Instrument available from: download from: http://dlibrary.acu.edu.au/research/ccls/sppub/Generation_Y_Qnre_Final.pdf

Construct/ what is being measured

The Youth Spirituality project is an Australian collaborative study funded by 18 academic institutions and religious organizations, with lead researchers from Monash University, the Australian Catholic University and the Christian Research Association.

The broad aim of the project is to better understand “the spirit of Generation Y” as compared to the Baby Boomers and Generation X.  Generation Y are those born between 1976-1990. 

The questions in the interview guide were structured around the following themes: social interests/concerns/activities/values, education, leisure, personal values, one’s decision making process, family history, and school background, one’s religious/spiritual outlook/ beliefs, religious identification, religious/ spiritual practices, attendance (of religious events), influences on religious outlook/beliefs.

The research team: Dr. Michael Mason and Assoc. Prof. Ruth Webber (ACU), Dr. Andrew Singleton (Monash), Dr. Philip Hughes (CRA)

Format: Interview Guide

Key articles

Technical reports and other project publications can be downloaded at no charge from: http://dlibrary.acu.edu.au/research/ccls/sppub/sppub.htm

The Social Research Centre. (2005). _Spirit of generation Y. Technical Summary prepared for Spirit of Generation Y Project, Australian Catholic University. Melbourne, Australia.