Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #118143

James Alan Neff, PhD, MPH, College of Health Sciences, Department of Community and Environmental Health, Old Dominion University, 205 Spong Hall, Norfolk, VA 23529, 757-683-6482, janeff@odu.edu

Preliminary psychometric results are presented for a new multi-dimensional spirituality measure developed for research on spiritual change as a mediator of outcomes among minority individuals in substance abuse treatment. Measures of 13 sub-dimensions (95 items) were recently developed using focus group and Concept Mapping methodologies with individuals in 7 diverse treatment programs.

Data are being collected from 200 – 300 clients in 2 large alcohol/drug treatment programs in Tennessee and Virginia serving predominantly African American populations. Data are currently available on 94 cases (68% African-American; 57% Male; 26.6% Alcohol as Primary Drug; 43.6% Cocaine as Primary Drug). Results include:

Reliability: Most all measures had acceptable reliability (Cronbach's alpha > .70): Spiritual Meaning (alpha = .89); Daily Spiritual Experience (.85); Forgiveness (.78); Accountability to Self/God/Others (.74); Private Religious Practices (.85); Organizational Religious Practices (.53); Spiritual Striving (.78), and Relationships with Others (.88).

Discriminant Validity: One-tailed t-tests indicated that all measures (except Relationships and Self-efficacy) discriminated (p < .05) between individuals reporting recent increases in spirituality compared to those not reporting increases.

Construct Validity: Significant correlations were obtained between subscale scores and 4 scales selected as measures of intensity of religious/spiritual involvement—self-rated religiosity/spirituality, private religious involvement (eg., prayer), organizational religious involvement (eg., church attendance), and spiritual striving.

Preliminary analyses support the psychometrics of the new multidimensional spirituality measure. Additional analyses of data from the entire sample (n ~ 200 - 300) will include exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to assess the measures' utility for longitudinal outcomes studies.

Learning Objectives: at the end of the presentation, the audience will

• be familiar with the methodology used to develop the new multidimensional spirituality measure
• be able to assess the potential utility of the new measures for use in research on substance abuse treatment outcomes

Keywords: Drug Abuse Treatment, Religion

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.