Assessment, Statistics, and Research

  Assessment name:   Divine Spiritual Struggles Scale Scale overview: The Divine Spiritual Struggles Scale measures the degree of distress experienced by adolescents in their relationship with God or a higher power. Scale data were obtained from a sample of adolescents who reported sexual abuse.   Authors: Ernest Jouriles and others (2020).  See scale reference below.     Response Type: Four items are rated on a 4-point scale of frequency related to feeling “punished, abandoned, and questioned God’s love” when they thought about sexual abuse in the preceding month.  0 = not at all  1 = somewhat  2 = quite a bit  3 = a great deal Scale items The four items in the scale can be found in the PsycTESTS reference below. Psychometric properties The scale was used in two studies (see Jouriles et al., 2020) with a combined n of 347 adolescents who had a mean age of 13.53 and 13.71, respectively. More than 90% were...

  Scale name: Attitudes and Experiences of Evangelical Christians with Mental Distress Scale overview: Lloyd and Waller (2020) used nine items to assess the relationship of spiritual etiology to mental distress in a British sample ( n = 446).   Response Type and items: The 9-questions were organized into three groups. Respondents were presented with different response options depending on the question. 1. Spiritualization of Mental Distress 1-4 Example: Has your current or previous church or related teaching taught that mental distress was the result of demons, spirits or generational curses? Response options were yes, no, or unsure. 2. Views on secular/psychological treatments 5 – 7. Example: 5. Do you believe psychological treatments, such as therapy, can be successful in treating mental distress? Response options were yes, no, or unsure. Questions 6-7 asked about church support. 3. Interaction with the Church community 8-9 Example: Overall, how do you...

  Scale name:    Behaviors Toward God Scale (BTGS) Scale overview: The Behaviors Toward God Scale (BTGS) is an 18-item self-report measure of  behavioral  responses toward God when people experience a spiritual or religious struggle. The items are grouped into four subscales. Authors: Julie J. Exline et al. (2021) Response Type:    Participants read a statement and rate their behavioral response from 0 = not at all to 10 = extremely. Subscales: Four (sample item in parentheses) 1. Approach – draw close (tried to trust God) 2. Disengage - turn away or exit (ignored God) 3. Protest-   complain, argue, or question (asked God "Why?") 4. Suppress – avoid or minimize negative feelings toward God (tried to hide feelings of anger or disappointment toward God)   Reliability: alpha values for the four subscales ranged from .80 to .89 in study 1 and .79 to .91 in study 2 (Exline et al., 2021) Validity: The Exline  et al. 20...

  Scale name: Spiritual Abuse Questionnaire (SAQ) Scale overview: The  Spiritual Abuse Questionnaire (SAQ)  is a 17-item self-report questionnaire that uses a 4-point Likert Type response format to measure two dimensions of abuse: Power-based affective wounding and Conditionality. Author: Kathryn Hope Keller   Response Type: 4-point Likert type. The choices are: Strongly disagree, Disagree, Agree, Strongly agree. Subscales and Sample Items: There are two subscales. 1. Power-based Affective Wounding : “At times, I was scolded by my leader and made to feel ashamed and helpless” and “I now feel cynical about church/religious groups.”   2. Conditionality: “I believed I could be totally surrendered to God if I did everything perfectly according to the church/group’s instructions,” and “I believed God would punish me if I didn’t do what my church/group encouraged me to do.” Reliability: Alpha for the 17-item scale was .95 (Keller, 2016). ...

T he Religious and Spiritual Struggles Scale (RSS) assesses six domains of potential struggles, which people may experience. The RSS is a 26-item measure with strong psychometric support. For a list of the items and more details, see the reference below (Exline, Pargament, Grubbs, & Yali, 2014). Based on Exline et al. (2014) and a general reading of the topic, I define religious/ spiritual (RS) struggles as experiences of personal concern linked to RS beliefs, practices, values, or experiences, which negatively affect thinking, feelings, or behavior, relationships, or health. The Six Domains of Spiritual Struggles Following is a quote from page 208 of the 2014 article, which describes the six domains. I have added bold text to help readers identify each domain. Note, r/s is a common abbreviation for religious/spiritual. The measure assesses six domains of r/s struggle: divine (negative emotion centered on beliefs about God or a perceived relationship with God), ...