Development, Reliability, and Validity of Psycho-Spiritual Wellbeing Scale (P-SWBS)

Development, Reliability, and Validity of Psycho-Spiritual Wellbeing Scale (P-SWBS)

Joyzy Pius Egunjobi^1,2, Paulin Habimana¹, and Jacinta Ncheteka Onye²

¹Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Nairobi, Kenya

²Psycho-Spiritual Institute of Lux Terra Leadership Foundation, Marist International University College, Nairobi, Kenya.

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2023.7011071

Received: 28 October 2023; Revised: 09 November 2023; Accepted: 13 November 2023; Published: 09 December 2023

ABSTRACT

Until recently, researchers have been combining the Ryft’s Psychological Wellbeing Scale (PWBS) and Ellison and Paloutzian’s Spiritual Wellbeing Scale (SWBS) in an attempt to measure what can be considered psycho-spiritual wellbeing. This attempt makes psycho-spiritual wellbeing appear fragmented. This necessitated the development of the Psycho-Spiritual Wellbeing Scale (P-SWBS) which measures psycho-spiritual wellbeing on the five domains: Self-Awareness, Connectedness, Meaningfulness, Compassion, and Self-Transcendence. The purpose of the study is to ascertain the psychometric properties of the P-SWBS. P-SWBS is found to be highly reliable (25 items; Spearman Brown Coefficient = .876; Guttman Split-Half coefficient = .850; at Cronbach’s Alpha = .916). The P-SWBS is valid on face, content, and criterion levels. Also, validity was based on the significant value obtained by the Sig. (2-tailed) of 0.000<0.05 on score total of each item of the scale.

Keywords: Psycho-Spiritual, Psycho-Spiritual Wellbeing, Psycho-Spiritual Wellbeing Scale, Validity, Reliability

INTRODUCTION

With the growing interest in the relationship between certain behaviors or experiences and the psycho-spiritual wellbeing of certain individuals, it is imperative that there exist certain scales to measure psycho-spiritual wellbeing. Currently, researchers have been combine the Ryft’s (1989) Psychological Wellbeing Scale (PWBS) and Ellison and Paloutzian’s (1982) Spiritual Wellbeing Scale (SWBS) to measure what can be considered psycho-spiritual wellbeing. By doing so, psychological wellbeing and spiritual wellbeing are measured independently. Moderate to high scores in the two scales are said to indicate moderate to high level of psycho-spiritual wellbeing.

Psycho-spiritual wellbeing is a state of being that should not be fragmented. It is a state of being and not states of being. Hence, examining or determining the level of a person’s psycho-spiritual health requires a holistic examination of those factors that can predict one’s psycho-spiritual health or wellbeing.

Psycho-spiritual wellbeing is an individual’s integrative emotional and spiritual health and functioning within cultural context (Figure 1). The cultural context cannot be overlooked because “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main” (Donne, 1998). So, everyone behaves and functions within the context and the understanding of certain culture. Psycho-spiritual wellbeing encompasses various psychological and spiritual human positive emotions, identity, satisfaction, joy, purpose, communication, connection, contentment, values, authentic religiosity, and self-transcendence (Anka 2019; Gomez & Fisher, 2003). Major domains of psycho-spiritual wellbeing include self-awareness, connectedness, meaningfulness, compassion, and self-transcendence. These domains are of both psychological and spiritual attributes with cultural undertones.

Figure 1. Psycho-Spiritual Integration

Source: Egunjobi (2023)

Self-awareness

Self-awareness is the conscious understanding of one’s personality, thoughts, and desires, enabling alignment with reality (Cherry, 2023). It also involves one’s spiritual awareness, respect of other’s uniqueness and awareness of the socio-cultural context from which one is functioning.

Connectedness

Connectedness is the feeling of belonging and connection (Alias, 2013), encompassing various fields and contexts. This domain expresses upward (transcendental) connection, horizontal (interpersonal) connection, downward (intergenerational) connection, centred (intrapersonal) connection, and all arounder (universal) connection as shown in Figure 2. The principle of connectedness encompasses physical, emotional, psychological, spiritual, and cultural aspects of human existence.

Figure 2. Connectedness

Source: Egunjobi (2023)

Meaningfulness

Frankl (1963) claimed that human beings have an innate drive to find meaning and significance. Having a sense of life’s meaning is associated with a host of positive health outcomes. It is related to holistic health and social functioning (Jones, 2019), including a sense of coherence and order to one’s life (Reker & Wong, 1988), the pursuit of worthwhile goals and life purposes (Ryff, 1989b), and a general sense that one’s life is significant (Frankl, 1963).

Compassion

Compassion is the feeling that arises when we are confronted with another’s suffering and feel motivated to relieve it. This involves having empathy, sympathy, altruism, forgiveness, and mercy (Murphy & Hampton, 1988). According to Foster (2023), compassion is a form of love that focuses on others’ sufferings, fostering kindness and selflessness. It involves caring, concern, tenderness, and support, aiming to alleviate others’ misery and distress. (Chiesi, Lau, & Saklofske, 2020).

Self-Transcendence

Self-transcendence is the concept of transcending oneself and relating to something greater than oneself. It refers to the highest levels of human consciousness, where individuals behave and relate to themselves, others, nature, and the cosmos (Kim & Seidlitz, 2019). Maslow’s (1971) sees self-transcendence as “peak experiences” and “plateau experiences.” This involves transcending oneself, resulting in intense joy, peace, and well-being, emphasizing overcoming the ego and achieving optimal well-being (Messerly, 2017).

States of natural bliss, ecstasy and existential awe are usually found within self-transcended people.

Measuring Psycho-Spiritual Wellbeing

Within the framework of Psycho-Spiritual Institute, the measurement of psycho-spiritual wellbeing is measured with an integrative Psycho-Spiritual Well-Being Scale (P-SWBS). Each domain of P-SWBS has both psychological and spiritual properties/components with cultural sensitivity. The domains are measured to predict psycho-spiritual wellbeing of an individual.

Purpose

The purpose of the study was to determine the psychometric properties of P-SWBS.

METHODOLOGY

To determine the psychometric properties of the P-SWBS, the scale, using survey design, was administered online via WhatsApp in Kenya, Nigeria, and Rwanda. It targets anyone from the age of 13 and the data was collected through voluntarily sampling. Participants under the age of 18 were guided by their parents or guardian.  The data were analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics and were presented in tables.

Demographic Information

The demographic information gathered were age, gender, and educational level.

Table 1. Age of the Participants

Table 1 revealed that 98.1% of the participants were at least 20 years old which is an indication that the participants are old enough to understand the content of the P-SWBS.

Table 2. Gender of the Participants

Table 2 showed that there was no significant gender disparity. This shows that there was good gender representation in the participation.

Table 3 also revealed that almost all the participants (91.3%) had post-secondary school education with most (> 65%) having at least a bachelor’s degree. This also attest to the fact that majority of the participants have the capacity to understand the content of P-SWBS and adequately respond as necessary.

Table 3. Educational Level of the Participants

Reliability of P-SWB Scale

The P-SWB Scale was administered once to the participants necessitating the Split-Half Coefficient to determine the reliability of the scale. This was done by statistically splitting the 25 items of P-SWBS into half on the one hand and splitting the five domains of P-SWBS on the other hand. These were statistically conducted on IBM SPSS version 23.  The results were reported on Tables 4 and 5.

From Table 4, each half of the P-SWBS achieved internal consistency Cronbach’s Alpha > .800, correlation between forms >.700, Spearman Brown Coefficient of unequal length > .8.00, and Gutman Split-Half Coefficient > .800. All these show that the P-SWB is highly reliable when considered item by item.

Table 5 examined the reliability of the five domains of P-SWBS.

Table 4. Reliability Statistics for all 25 Items

a. The items are: Self-Understanding, In touch with thoughts and feelings, Respect other’s uniqueness, Conscious of Spiritual beliefs and practices, In touch with cultural beliefs and values, Healthy relationship with self, Healthy relationship with others, Strong sense of belonging, Connect with something greater than self, Part of the universe, Contended and fulfilled, Search for meaning and purpose, Balance of self-needs and other’s needs.

b. The items are: Balance of self-needs and other’s needs, Meaning in spiritual involvement, I value my cultural heritage, Connect with other’s suffering, Attend to other’s needs, Kind with words and action, Capacity to Forgive, Self-Compassion, Self-motivated, Deep peace and joy, Profound sense of wellbeing, Not constrained by external factors, Detach from previous importance.

Table 5 proved that P-SWBS achieved internal consistency Cronbach’s Alpha > .800, correlation between forms >.800, Spearman Brown Coefficient of unequal length > .9.00, and Gutman Split-Half Coefficient > .900. P-SWBS is highly reliable by domains.

Table 5. Reliability Statistics for all Five Domains

a.      The items are: Awareness, Connectedness, Meaningfulness.

b.      The items are: Compassion, Self-Transcendence.

The internal consistency of the total items and the total domains were respectively measure with Cronbach’s Alpha, Tables 6 and 7 show the findings.

Table 6. Cronbach’s Alpha for the total 25 Items

Table 6 shows that P-SWBS has very high internal consistency Cronbach’s Alpha level by items.

Table 7. Cronbach’s Alpha for the total 5 Domains

Table 7 shows that P-SWBS has very high internal consistency Cronbach’s Alpha level by domains. Inter-item Correlation was conducted for the five domains. Table 8 shows the finding.

Table 8. Inter-Item Correlation of the Five Domains

It was found from Table 8 that the domains of P-SWBS achieved inter-item correlation with the minimum of .522 and maximum of .803. This is similar to the correlation between items in each domain as shown in Table 9.

Table 9. Psychometric Properties of the Five Domains

Summarily, the Psycho-Spiritual Wellbeing Scale (P-SWBS) is highly reliable between the 25 items (Spearman Brown Coefficient = .876; Guttman Split-Half coefficient = .850; at Cronbach’s Alpha = .916), and between the five domains (Spearman Brown Coefficient = .912; Guttman Split-Half coefficient = .866; at Cronbach’s Alpha = .887).

Validity of P-SWBS

P-SWBS was subjected to Face Validity, Content Validity, and Criterion Validity.

Face: Some people in the field of psychology, spirituality, and psycho-spiritual therapy reviewed P-SWBS for suitability and relevance. They concluded that the scale is suitable and relevant in measuring psycho-spiritual wellbeing.

Content: P-SWBS was also subjected to the assessment of some psychologists, psycho-spiritual therapists, and statisticians. The content of P-SWBS in terms of how the items in each domain captured what the domains represent was examined. It was reported that P-SWBS is valid at content level.

Criterion:  P-SWBS was subjected to statistical analysis using IBM-SPSS version 23. The 25 items were correlated with the sum of the 25 items. There were significant positive correlations between items and the items and the sum of items at Sig. (2-tailed) of 0.000<0.05.

The P-SWBS is valid on face, content, and criterion levels. Based on the significant value obtained by the Sig. (2-tailed) of 0.000<0.05 on score total of each item, it is concluded that items 1 to 25 are valid at rxy 0.447, 0.605, 0.502, 0.661, 0.470, 0.589, 0.630, 0.624, 0.405, 0.679,0.664, 0.307, 0.681, 0.636, 0.622, 0.444, 0.623, 0.487, 0.483, 0.602, 0.746, 0.730, 0.718, 0.600, and 0.708>r table product moment 0.195 as  shown in Table 10.

Table 10. Validity of the 25 Items

Validity

DISCUSSIONS

This purpose of this study was to determine the psychometric properties of Psycho-Spiritual Wellbeing Scale. The scale was developed by Egunjobi, et al. (2023) as a necessity to bridge the gap in the combination of Ryft’s (1989) Psychological Wellbeing Scale (PWBS) and Ellison and Paloutzian’s (1982) Spiritual Wellbeing Scale (SWBS) in measuring psycho-spiritual wellbeing. This combination violates the integrative nature and principle of psycho-spiritual wellbeing, which sees such wellbeing as a holistic approach that should not be fragmented.

We are respectful of the Ryft’s Psychological Wellbeing Scale (PWBS) and Ellison and Paloutzian’s Spiritual Wellbeing Scale (SWBS) which were both developed in 1980 to determine a person’s psychological wellbeing and spiritual wellbeing respectively. These instruments have been proven valid and reliable. According to Lee, et al. (2019), the PWBS was proven to have good validity and reliability which in their study had Cronbach’s coefficients ranging from 0.75 to 0.91, with the overall result having a coefficient of 0.87. SWBS was also found to be valid and reliable according to Statistics Solution (n.d.).

However, from deep training perspective and from the theoretical framework of the psycho-spiritual therapy, psychological wellbeing plus spiritual wellbeing will not equal to psycho-spiritual wellbeing. Psycho-spiritual wellbeing is more meaningful and realizable if considered as holistic and not fragmented. Hence, we considered those domains that are psychological, spiritual, and cultural in nature. The domains are, self-awareness, connectedness, meaningfulness, compassion, and self-transcendence. Each domain has five items which means that the total scale has 25 items.

Our study revealed that the 25 items measured what they intended to measure, that is, they are valid. Statistically, the scale is valid by items and by the five domains. Achieving this conclusion means that the P-SWBS can confidently be used anytime a research or body researchers are measuring psycho-spiritual wellbeing. Combining two scales will no longer be necessary.

CONCLUSION

The Psycho-Spiritual Wellbeing Scale (P-SWBS) as developed by Joyzy Pius Egunjobi, Paulin Habimana, and Jacinta Ncheteka Onye is a timely scale to measure psycho-spiritual wellbeing at the time researcher are becoming more interested in the psycho-spiritual wellbeing of individuals. The P-SWBS focuses on five domains namely, Self-Awareness, Connectedness, Meaningfulness, Compassion, and Self-Transcendence. P-SWBS was found to be highly reliable and valid on face, content, and criterion levels by the 25 items and by the five domains. It is recommended P-SWBS is further tested for validity and reliability in America, Asia, Europe, and other continents.

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APPENDIX 1

PSYCHO-SPIRITUAL WELLBEING SCALE (P-SWBS)

Instruction

Kindly indicate your level of agreement to the following statements.

Strongly Disagree = 1; Disagree = 2; Somewhat Agree =3; Agree = 4; Strongly Agree = 5.

 Self-Awareness

Connectedness

Meaningfulness

Compassion

Self-Transcendence

APPENDIX 2

PSYCHO-SPIRITUAL WELLBEING SCALE (P-SWBS) – INTERPRETATION

Scoring

The Psycho-Spiritual Wellbeing is measured according to the subsets: Awareness, Connectedness, Meaningfulness, Compassion, and Self-Transcendence.  The mean score of each subset is calculated and then transferred to Table 1

Table 1

Note: T/5 means total divided by 5

Interpretation

The mean score of each subset/component of the P-SWBS as well as the total mean score of the mean of the components (Table 1) are interpreted in levels as shown in the Table 2.

Table 2

Source: Egunjobi (2022)

Reliability and Validity

The Psycho-Spiritual Wellbeing Scale (P-SWB S) is highly reliable (25 items; Spearman Brown Coefficient = .876; Guttman Split-Half coefficient = .850; at Cronbach’s Alpha = .916).

The P-SWBS is valid on face, content, and criterion levels. Also, based on the significant value obtained by the Sig. (2-tailed) of 0.000<0.05 on score total of each item, it is concluded that items 1 to 25 are valid at rxy 0.447, 0.605, 0.502, 0.661, 0.470, 0.589, 0.630, 0.624, 0.405, 0.679,0.664, 0.307, 0.681, 0.636, 0.622, 0.444, 0.623, 0.487, 0.483, 0.602, 0.746, 0.730, 0.718, 0.600, and 0.708>r table product moment 0.195.