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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Diane Ruth Lauver, PhD RN FAAN, University of Wisconsin-Madison, k6/350 CSC Sch of Nsg, 600 Highland Ave, Madison, WI 53792-2455, 608-263-5286, drlauver@facstaff.wisc.edu and Nanthana Thananowan, MS, RN, School of Nursing, University of Wisconsin Madison, 600 Highland Ave, Madison, WI 53792-2455.
Spirituality and religiousness have been associated with health status in several studies. However, measures of spirituality or religiousness used in past research have had limitations (e.g., some scales do not reflect dimensions of spirituality adequately). Commonly recognized dimensions of spirituality include a sense of meaning in life, beliefs in the transcendent, and a sense of connectedness among others. The purposes of this paper will be to share findings about the reliability and validity of measures proposed to reflect dimensions of spirituality. Some hypotheses were that: scales designed to measure meaning and purpose in life would be correlated positively, and scales that measure daily spiritual experiences and spiritual growth would be correlated positively. Using both a cross-sectional and longitudinal design, we have sampled 80 graduate students to date. Participants completed questionnaires, including spirituality scales proposed by the Fetzer Institute (e.g., daily spiritual experiences, meaning, beliefs, religious affiliation), as well as purpose in life and spiritual growth scales. Test-retest correlations (using longitudinal data) and internal consistency Cronbach alphas (using cross-sectional data) of study scales will be summarized to examine reliability of these scales. Correlations of the Fetzer spirituality scales with other study measures (e.g., purpose in life and spiritual growth) will be presented to examine the construct validity of these scales. Findings from this study will be important to inform researchers in their selection of reliable and valid measures of spirituality for use in future health-related research.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Faith Community, Health Indices
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.