The Psychometric Properties of Spiritual Health Questionnaire in Iranian Population

Abstract

Background: The importance of assessing spiritual health as one of the dimensions of human life, especially by health service personnel, including nurses, raises the need for appropriate tools to check the level of spiritual health. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the psychometric properties of the spiritual health questionnaire in the Iranian population. Methods: The present research design was descriptive and included psychometric studies. It was carried out in order to determine the psychometric properties of Delani et al.'s spiritual health questionnaire in Iranian society. This questionnaire is a comprehensive assessment that focuses on beliefs, intuition, lifestyle choices, practices, and rituals that represent the human spirit and has features that can be a guide for providing spiritual interventions. Sampling was done through the convenience sampling method, and the sample size was considered 400. AMOS and SPSS software were used for data analysis. Findings: Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to check the reliability of the questionnaire and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to determine its construct validity. Cronbach's alpha was 0.78, 0.78, and 0.86 for the three domains of self-discovery, relationships, and eco-awareness, respectively, and was 0.91 for the entire questionnaire. The model fit indices, including the chi-square to degree of freedom ratio (χ²/df) was 2.97. Comparative fit indices (CFI) and incremental fit index (IFI) were obtained higher than 0.9, the normalized fit index (NFI) was higher than 0.8, and the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) index was 0.07. The correlation coefficient between spiritual health and age showed a significant correlation (P < 0.01). There was no significant difference between the average scores of spiritual health in men and women, or in different occupations. Conclusion: Based on the findings, the Persian version of the spiritual health questionnaire has relatively good psychometric properties, which are mostly consistent with the original version of this questionnaire. Therefore, it can be considered a suitable questionnaire to evaluate the state of spiritual health in the Iranian population. These findings can also help to facilitate the inclusion of spirituality in health care. © 2025, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences(IUMS). All rights reserved.