Spirituality index of well-being scale: development and testing of a new measure - JFP Online - Brief Article

Journal of Family Practice, Nov, 2002 by Timothy P. Daaleman, Bruce B. Frey, Dennis Wallace, Stephanie A. Studenski

* OBJECTIVE To evaluate the reliability and validity of the Spirituality Index of Well-Being (SIWB) Scale in a patient population.

* STUDY DESIGN Cross-sectional survey.

* POPULATION Community-dwelling elderly individuals (n = 277) recruited from primary care clinic sites in the Kansas City metropolitan area.

* OUTCOMES MEASURED Internal consistency, concurrent construct validity, discriminant validity, and factor analysis with Varivax rotation.

* RESULTS The initial version of the SIWB contained 40 items: 20 from a self-efficacy domain and 20 from a life scheme domain. Factor analysis yielded 6 items loaded most strongly on factor 1 (intrapersonal self-efficacy) and 6 other items loaded strongly on factor 2 (life scheme). The Self-efficacy subscale had an [alpha] of .83 and the Life Scheme subscale had an [alpha] of .80; the total 12-item SIWB Scale had an [alpha] of .87. The SIWB had significant and expected correlations with other quality-of-life measures related to subjective well-being: EuroQol (r = .18), Geriatric Depression Scale (r = -35), the Physical Functioning Index from the Short Form 36 (r = .28), and the Years of Healthy Life Scale (r = -.35). Religiosity did not correlated significantly with the SIWB (r = .12, P = .056).

* CONCLUSIONS The 12-item SIWB Scale is a valid and reliable measure of subjective well-being in an older patient population.