Measuring spiritual well-being in people with cancer: The functional assessment of chronic illness therapy—spiritual well-being scale (FACIT-Sp)

TLDR

Religion has been linked to better health, and recent research has highlighted spirituality as distinct from religion in health promotion, yet validated instruments for measuring spirituality remain scarce. The study develops and evaluates the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy–Spiritual Well‑Being (FACIT‑Sp) scale in two cancer patient samples. FACIT‑Sp includes meaning/peace and faith subscales, with a total score, and was shown to have strong internal consistency, correlate with quality of life, and converge with five other spirituality measures across two studies. Both studies confirm that FACIT‑Sp is a reliable, valid measure of spiritual well‑being for people with cancer and other chronic illnesses.

Abstract

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.