title: The applicability of the Antonovsky Sense of Coherence Scale to a group of Pentecostalists.
abstract: A methodological issue concerning the Antonovsky of Sense of Coherence (SOC) scale was raised in an earlier study questioning the applicability of the scale in different populations, and among these the Pentecostalists. The question was raised when a group of Pentecostalists had had difficulties in filling in another scale intended to measure the SOC. Therefore, the aim of this study was to test the applicability of the 29-item Antonovsky SOC scale in a group of people (n = 37) belonging to a church of the Pentecostal Movement and to compare the results with those of a randomized group (n = 145) from a general population. The Pentecostalists filled in the scale with no obvious difficulties. No significant differences were found between the Pentecostal group and the group of a general population regarding the total SOC scale scores (mean 152, SD 16 and mean 151, SD 18, respectively). The applicability difficulties found in the earlier study, however using an other SOC scale, could not be confirmed in the present study. To conclude, the Antonovsky SOC scale has so far not shown to have applicability weakness.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Division of Nursing Research, Karolinska Hospital, Department of Nursing, Borgmästarvillan, Karolinska Institutet, 171 76 Stockholm, Sweden. ann.langius@medks.ki.se
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Langius
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Björvell
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002835:Christianity; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012647:Self-Assessment; D013548:Sweden