The brief serenity scale: a psychometric analysis of a measure of spirituality and well-being.
OBJECTIVE
This article describes a factor analysis of a 22-item version of the Serenity Scale, a tool that measures spirituality and well-being.


METHODS
A sample of 87 participants, enrolled in a National Institutes of Health-funded clinical trial examining the impact of mindfulness-based stress reduction on symptom management post-solid organ transplantation, completed the abbreviated instrument.


RESULTS
Exploratory factor analysis yielded three subscales: acceptance, inner haven, and trust. The Serenity Scale was positively associated with positive affect and mindful awareness and inversely related to negative affect, anxiety, depression, health distress and transplant-related stress.


CONCLUSIONS
Serenity, a dimension of spirituality that is secular and distinct from religious orientation or religiosity, shows promise as a tool that could be used to measure outcomes of nursing interventions that improve health and well-being.


CONCLUSIONS
Spirituality is recognized as being an essential component of holistic nursing practice. As nurses expand their use of spiritual interventions, it is important to document outcomes related to nursing care. The Serenity Scale appears to capture a dimension of spirituality, a state of acceptance, inner haven and trust that is distinct from other spirituality instruments.
Kreitzer
Mary Jo
MJ
Center for Spirituality and Healing, School of Nursing, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA. kreit003@umn.edu
Gross
Cynthia R
CR
Waleekhachonloet
On-anong
OA
Reilly-Spong
Maryanne
M
Byrd
Marcia
M
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D006694:Holistic Health; D018939:Holistic Nursing / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019222:Mind-Body Relations, Metaphysical; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D010552:Personality Assessment; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D029181:Spirituality; D014481:United States