Validation of the FACIT‐Sp‐12 in a Dutch cohort of patients with advanced cancer

Abstract

Objective Although the Dutch Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy—Spiritual Well‐Being 12 Item Scale (FACIT‐Sp‐12) has been used in several Dutch studies, no study has assessed the measurement properties of the translation. The aim of this study was to perform an item‐reduction analysis, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), test of reliability, and test of convergent validity. Methods From the baseline data of a cohort study on experienced quality of care and quality of life (eQuiPe study), 400 advanced cancer patients without missing values on any of the variables were selected. In addition to demographic and religious/spiritual characteristics, study measures included the FACIT‐Sp‐12 and the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire‐C30 (EORTC‐QLQ‐C30). Results Item reduction analysis showed that Items 4 and 8 had low correlations to the total scale (<0.30). Items 6 and 7, and Items 9, 10, and 11 were highly correlated (>0.75). CFA indicated a good fit for a three‐factor structure with Meaning, Peace and Faith, and good Cronbach's α coefficients for the total as well as the subscales (0.71–0.86). The removal of Items 4, 8, and 12 further improved the goodness of fit and Cronbach's α coefficients. Convergent validity was adequate with the EORTC‐QLQ‐C30. Conclusion Our analysis of the FACIT‐Sp‐12 revealed serious questions about three items and concerns about the Faith subscale. These problematic items deserve further attention so should be interpreted with care when using this scale. A future study could look into the items and test possible replacements.

Association of spirituality and quality of life in cancer survivors: A systematic review and meta- analysis

“…Of those, three included an exclusive or almost exclusive Muslin population [23,31,34]. The remaining seven articles included a dominant Christian population, reporting speci c breakdown of Christian sects [25,30,35,37,39,43,45]. Bai et al (2015), Daugherty et al (2005) and Whitford et al (2008) reported a small percentage of study participants who identi ed as Jewish, 7.7%, 3%, and 0.2% respectively.…”

Spiritual Well-Being and Associated Factors in Dutch Patients With Advanced Cancer

“…Previous research has pointed to the limited informative value of the total score of the FACIT-Sp-12, as the three subscales can have very different associations to other measures that become subsumed under the total score. 25,26 For example, an association between physical functioning and total SWB may only be associated to Meaning and Peace. 26 The present study therefore looked at the subscale scores instead of the total score.…”

The FACIT-Sp spiritual wellbeing scale: a factor analysis in patients with severe and/or life-limiting medical illnesses

“…FACIT-Sp has been utilized across a range of patient populations (e.g., cancer, elderly, heart failure) (10)(11)(12)(13) from different religions and cultures (e.g., Brazil, Italy, Japan, United States) (14)(15)(16)(17), as well as with individuals who identify as spiritual but not religious. It has been found that populations that do not have a religious affiliation score lower on the faith factor (8,18).…”

“…Since its development, FACIT-Sp has been used as a stand-alone measure of spirituality (1). It has been used as the gold standard (8) and as validation of other tools assessing spirituality and related concepts (13,18,19). Several efforts to define religion and spirituality (20)(21)(22) are underway and highlight the importance of this aspect of wellbeing and simultaneously highlight the importance of effective measurement of these constructs.…”