Measuring spiritual well-being in people with cancer: the functional assessment of chronic illness therapy--Spiritual Well-being Scale (FACIT-Sp).
A significant relation between religion and better health has been demonstrated in a variety of healthy and patient populations. In the past several years, there has been a focus on the role of spirituality, as distinctfrom religion, in health promotion and coping with illness. Despite the growing interest, there remains a dearth of well-validated, psychometrically sound instruments to measure aspects of spirituality. In this article we report on the development and testing of a measure of spiritual well-being, the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-Being (FACIT-Sp), within two samples of cancer patients. The instrument comprises two subscales--one measuring a sense of meaning and peace and the other assessing the role offaith in illness. A total score for spiritual well-being is also produced. Study 1 demonstrates good internal consistency reliability and a significant relation with quality of life in a large, multiethnic sample. Study 2 examines convergent validity with 5 other measures of religion and spirituality in a sample of individuals with mixed early stage and metastatic cancer diagnoses. Results of the two studies demonstrate that the FACIT-Sp is a psychometrically sound measure of spiritual well-being for people with cancer and other chronic illnesses.
Peterman
Amy H
AH
Northwestern University, Center on Outcomes, Research and Education, Center on Outcomes, Research and Education, Evanston, IL 60201, USA. a-peterman@northwestern.edu
Fitchett
George
G
Brady
Marianne J
MJ
Hernandez
Lesbia
L
Cella
David
D
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life; D012068:Religion and Medicine; D012649:Self Concept; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires