Measuring Dimensions of Spirituality in Chemical Dependence Treatment and Recovery: Research and Practice

Abstract

Spirituality and religiousness have long been associated with physical and mental health. The scientific treatment of religiosity as a multi-dimensional phenomenon is well established, especially in relation to chemical dependence treatment. Indeed, over 100 instruments are available for measuring various dimensions of religiosity. The more recent emergence of spirituality as an accepted construct in research has seen the development of a growing number of instruments to measure aspects of spirituality. The authors selected ten spirituality scales for review and discussion, and provided information relating to the scales' development, psychometrics, format, scoring, and availability. The scales are then conceptualized in terms of their aggregate and overlapping usefulness for research and practice, and suggestions are made concerning the salient dimensions of spirituality measured by each scale. The scales are presented as defining an increased sense of internalized spirituality that contributes to positive psychological and emotional outcomes underpinning recovery from chemical dependence. Spiritual and Religious Factors in Health InterventionIn medicine, psychology, and social work, empirical and theoretical traditions have a long history of associating spiritual well-being and/or robust religiousness with mental and physical health (Hill and Pargament 2003). There is a strong tendency among those in the helping professions to believe that a patient's spirituality/religiousness influences the course of medical and psychological interventions, recuperation from chronic illness, and mortality (Feher and Maley 1999;Kirkpatrick and McCullough 1999;Rose 1999;McCullough et al. 2000). In the literature on chemical dependence, spirituality and religiousness have been Int

The Daily Spiritual Experience Scale: Overview and Results

“…The DSES currently forms part of an ongoing study of adolescent alcohol abuse and helping behaviors. Shorkey and Uebel reviewed 10 measures for use in addiction research, and concluded regarding the DSES that "the usefulness of this scale for assessing the spiritual experience of a person in treatment and recovery may be profound" [61].…”

Instruments Measuring Spirituality in Clinical Research: A Systematic Review

“…These are important information gaps that must be addressed to improve the assessment of spirituality within health care. 13 Several authors have tried to develop a catalogue of instruments to assess spirituality, [14][15][16][17][18] but these reviews were not systematic, limited to specific populations, and essentially provided only descriptive information. To-date, no systematic review has been performed to catalogue and classify available instruments to assess spirituality within clinical health care research.…”

Inventory of Spirituality in Alcohol/Other Drug Research: Psychometric Dimensions

“…In addition to the scales briefly mentioned here, a variety of other available measures of spirituality are available in the literature on AOD dependence recovery (see Morgan, 2002;Neff, 2008;Shorkey, Uebel, & Windsor, 2008;Stanard, Shandhu, & Painter, 2000). Shorkey et al (2008), considering how the more recent emergence of spirituality as an accepted construct in research contributed to the development of a growing number of instruments to measure aspects of spirituality, selected 10 spirituality scales for review and discussion. The authors conceptualize the scales in terms of their aggregate and overlapping usefulness for research and practice, outlining the salient dimensions of spirituality measured by each scale.…”

“…It is notable that the spirituality scales included in the review by Shorkey et al (2008) were largely generic; that is, they assessed spirituality from a more holistic, nondenominational perspective. One scale discussed by the authors was developed to measure spiritual maturity from a Christian New Testament perspective informed by object relations theory (Spiritual Assessment Inventory [SAI]; Hall & Edwards, 1996, 2002.…”