Ordinary Spiritual Experience: Qualitative Research, Interpretive Guidelines, and Population Distribution for the Daily Spiritual Experience Scale
Archive for the Psychology of Religion January 1, 2006 Lynn G. Underwood
The Daily Spiritual Experience Scale (DSES) is a sixteen-item self-report measure that captures spiritual experiences such as awe, gratitude, mercy, a sense of connection with the transcendent, compassionate love, and desire for closeness to God. Originally developed for health studies, it has been adopted more widely in the social sciences, for program evaluation, and for tracking changes in spiritual experiences over time. The scale has been included on the U.S. General Social Survey, showing high item prevalence. Qualitative methods guided item development and testing. Translations exist in Spanish, Korean, Hebrew, Vietnamese, and French, and the scale has been used outside the United States.