Development and standardization of a tool to assess spirituality in families for family based interventions

Abstract

The aim of the study was to develop and standardize a tool for family spiritual assessment. The sample consisted of 1502 Indian participants which included members from three religious backgrounds namely: Christianity, Hinduism and Islam. The data collected through face-to-face interview was analyzed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA), t-test and ANOVA. A five-item Likert-type tool developed was named as Family Spiritual Assessment Scale (FSAS) through a process of item development. EFA revealed that the 26-item tool with 5-factor solution had an excellent internal consistency of and#945;= .816. Religious factor, Spiritual factor, Mental health factor I (Positive emotions), Mental health factor II (Forgiveness) and Mental health factor III (Negative emotions) are the five important factors of the scale. Gender differences were found in the Spiritual factor, Mental Health, and Total newlinescore of the Scale, where females had higher scores than males. Post-hoc analysis newline(Bonferroni) revealed that total scores of all the three religions differed significantly. The results provide a sound foundation for the future research on spirituality. Family Spiritual newlineAssessment Scale, being the first in India, can be very beneficial to mental health newlineprofessionals and practitioners. newline