Abstract
In this study the spirituality rating scale was developed and its reliability and validity were studied. Spirituality is defined as the mental outlook of actively seeking something and endeavoring to relate oneself to it, as well as the perception or thought of oneself and particular events: spirits and ideas. Based on this concept, a questionnaire was developed which consisted of 20 items, and for each item one of five possible answers could be chosen. Among 385 university students to whom this questionnaire was given, the number of effective answers was 382 (female, average age, 20.12±1.10 years). After excluding statistically inappropriate items from the study, factor analysis by maximum likelihood-promax rotation was performed. As a result of analysis, five factors with 15 items were finally obtained: self-consciousness, meaningfulness, volition, human spirit, and values. The 15 items were defined as the spirituality rating scale (SRS). The cumulative contribution percentage after extracting the factors was 52.80%. Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.82 and the reliability coefficient of 0.72 obtained by a retest method confirmed the reliability of the SRS. The validity of the SRS content was confirmed by the two-factor model, the convergence validity was confirmed by the negative anxiety and positive anxiety scale, helplessness scale, and fulfillment scale, the discriminate validity was confirmed by the religious perspective scale, and the dependent validity was confirmed by the depression-dejection scale which is the Japanese version of the profile of mood states. The above findings indicate that the SRS is sufficiently reliable and valid for practical use.
