Spirituality in the Context of Well-being. Evaluation of the Psychometric Properties and Added Value of the Spiritual Attitude and Involvement List Short Form (SAIL-SF).
Ernst T. Bohlmeijer, L Frielingsdorf, Jannis T. Kraiss, E De Jager-Meezenbroek, A Visser, P M Ten Klooster
Journal of Happiness Studies March 5, 2023 DOI: 10.1007/s10902-023-00640-8 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Scale development and validation study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 225 |
| Population | Adults participating in a trial of a positive psychology intervention; item selection used earlier samples of nurses (n=458) and cancer patients (n=445) |
| Measures | Spiritual Attitude and Involvement List (SAIL), SAIL-SF |
| Keywords | Questionnaire Spirituality Well-being Short-form Ability to adapt |
| Key points | The seven-item SAIL-SF forms a single factor with high loadings and good internal consistency in a sample of 225 adults, and it explained 7% of variance in ability to adapt beyond emotional, psychological, and social well-being. The authors conclude that spiritual well-being makes a unique contribution to adaptive ability compared with other types of well-being. |
Abstract
There is growing evidence that spiritual well-being is positively associated with adaptive coping and health. The Spiritual Attitude and Involvement List (SAIL) was developed to measure a sense of connectedness to oneself, the environment and the transcendent as a universal experience. The aim of the current study was to develop a short form of the SAIL (SAIL-SF). A factor analytic approach was adopted to select the items for the SAIL-SF based on earlier studies among nurses (n = 458) and cancer patients (n = 445). The dimensionality, factor-loadings, internal consistency, construct validity and incremental validity of the final SAIL-SF were then evaluated in a new sample of adults (n = 225) participating in a trial assessing a positive psychology intervention. The first study yielded seven items, each representing one of the dimensions of the original SAIL: meaningfulness, trust, acceptance, caring for others, connectedness with nature, transcendent experiences, and spiritual activities. The seven items represented a single meaningful factor in both samples and the factor loadings of the items were adequately high. In the second study, a good fit across the various model indices was found and all items had adequately high factor loadings in a strict unidimensional confirmatory factor model and demonstrated good internal consistency. The SAIL-SF explained 7% of variance in ability to adapt above and beyond emotional, psychological, and social well-being. The current study shows that the SAIL-SF has good psychometric properties, and that spiritual well-being has a unique contribution to the ability to adapt in comparison with other types of well-being.