Development of an Instrument to Assess Spirituality: Reliability and Validation of the Attitudes Related to Spirituality Scale (ARES)

Abstract

Background: Several instruments that measure spirituality present overlaps with positive emotions, impacting the interpretation of their findings. In order to minimize these problems, we aimed to develop, assess the reliability and validate a new scale to evaluate spirituality.Methods: The instrument was designed using a theoretical framework minimizing tautological issues (i.e., Koenig’s framework), a qualitative study investigating the definitions of spirituality, the development of the first version of instrument by experts’ meetings and a qualitative cognitive debriefing. Then, the instrument was examined for its content validity by a multidisciplinary group of judges and was pilot-tested in two different groups – less religious (medical students – n = 85) and more religious (practicing religious members – n = 85). Finally, psychometric properties and validity were assessed.Results: The developed Attitudes Related to Spirituality Scale (ARES) is a self-report 11-item instrument using five-level Likert items. ARES presented appropriate psychometric properties revealing excellent internal consistency (alpha = 0.98) and temporal stability (ICC = 0.98). Likewise, ARES was strongly correlated with other validated R/S instruments (i.e., Duke Religion Index and Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiousness/Spirituality) and was able to discriminate higher and lower religious groups. In the exploratory factor analysis, a unidimensional structure of the scale was described. Fit indices for the scale demonstrated good fit in the unidimensional model.Conclusion: The ARES is a reliable, valid and stable one-dimension instrument that is appropriate for use in the Portuguese-speaking population.Descriptors: Spirituality; Scale; Factorial Analysis; Instrument; Measure; Psychometrics.

Spirituality, Religiosity, and Mental Health in Patients with Idiopathic Inflammatory Myopathies: A Brazilian Multicentric Case–Control Study

“…The second stage involved the application of two questionnaires, both of which were validated in the Brazilian population: Religiosity: the Duke University Religion Index (DUREL) [ 37 ]; Spirituality: the Attitudes Related to Spirituality Scale (ARES) [ 38 ]; Mental health: the General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12) [ 39 ]. …”

“…The three previously mentioned questionnaires were chosen for three reasons: (i) they are gold standards in screening the conditions they propose; (ii) are validated in the Brazilian population; and (iii) are easy to apply [ 37 , 38 , 39 ].…”

“…DUREL has five items that cover the three dimensions of religiosity that are most closely related to health outcomes: organizational religious affiliation (ORA), non-organizational religious affiliation (NORA), and intrinsic religiosity (IR) [ 37 ].…”

The digital transformation in the psychology of workplace spirituality

“…The problem with this is that the questionnaire presupposes that people already have a shared and unilateral understanding of what spirituality is supposed to be. A qualitative study framed spirituality in three major categories, which were transcendence, religious beliefs, and positive emotions (Braghetta et al, 2021). A critical review on the validity of spirituality questionnaires DTS 3,1 concluded that the quality was often relatively low.…”

Crenças, atitudes e religiosidade: estratégias de coping no enfrentamento de tristeza, medo e raiva na prática hospitalar de profissionais de medicina

“…Pode confundir os dados referentes à saúde com os dados da espiritualidade secular incorrendo em erro tautológico, ou seja, quando sua concepção secular passa a ser definida por suas próprias consequências (estados psicológicos positivos). Os autores da escala ARES de Atitudes Relacionadas a Espiritualidade (Braghetta, Gorenstein, Wang, Martins, Leão, Peres, Lucchetti & Vallada, 2021) publicado recentemente se dedicaram a fazer distinção entre espiritualidade e emoções positivas, seguindo o alerta feito por Koenig. ARES é formada por 11 itens, com respostas em escala likert de cinco pontos.…”