Development and Determination of Content and Face Validity of Spiritual Intelligence Scale in Iranian Students

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Abstract

People use spiritual intelligence as spiritual capacities and resources for vital decision making and critical thinking in existential subjects or trying to solve daily problems. There is not a valid and reliable scale in this area which is developed based on Islamic conceptualization. The aim of this study was defining spiritual intelligence, determining domains of it, and developing items and testing content and face validities among college students. This study was done in a quantitative and qualitative approach by having a comprehensive overview of the tools of spiritual intelligence and interviewing 67 Bachelor’s students.  According to the results, spiritual intelligence was defined as a process of search for existential being, comprehending spiritual problems, understanding the meaning of religious symbols and rituals, the ability of exhausting spiritual resources for solving problems and adaptation with the environment. In addition, the dimensions of spiritual intelligence were clarified. In the next step 106 statements have been extracted from the existing measures, and 42 statements were generated using semi structured interviews. Data indicate this scale can reliability assess spiritual intelligence in college students. Preparing a shorter form is suggested to reduce the time strain, and enhancing its applicability in spiritual as well as psychological research.

Keywords


Bahrami, H. (2003). Psychological tests (theoretical basis and applied techniques),Tehran: Alameh Tabatabaei University.
Khodayari Fard, M. & Abdini, Y. (2008). Health Problems of javeniles and adolescents. Tehran: University of Tehran.
Khorami Markani, A; Yaghmaei, F; Khodayari Fard, M; Alavi Majd, H. (2012).Spiritual wellbeing experiences of oncology nurses: Qualitative content analysis. Journal of Sabzvar medical sciences university. 18(3).
Sohrabi, F. & Naseri, I. (2011). Assessing concept and Dimensions of spiritual intelligence and developing a scale to measuring it. Research in psychological health. 3(4) 69-77.
Amram, Y. (2007). The Seven Dimensions of Spiritual Intelligence: An Ecumenical Grounded Theory. Paper Presented at the 115th Annual (August 2007). Conference of the American Psychological Association, San Francisco, CA.
Anandrajah, D., & High E. (2001). Spirituality and medical practice: Using the HOPE question as a practical tool for piritual assessment. The American Academy of Family Physicians. 63(4) 81- 89.
Anastasia, A. (1990). Psychological Testing. 6th edition. New York: MacMillan Publishing Co.
Asadi- Lari M. et al. (2005). Psychometric properties of a new health needs analysis tool designed for cardiac patients. Public Health. 119 (8) 590- 598.
Buzan, T. (2001). The power of Spiritual Intelligence: 10 Ways to tap into your Spiritual genius. London: Thorsons.
Daaleman, T. P., Frey, B. B., Wallace, D., &Studenski, S. A. (2002). The Spirituality Index of Well-Being: Development and testing of a new measure. J FamPract, 51(11), 952.
Doward, L. C., Meads, D. M., &Thorsen, H. (2004). Requirements for quality of life instruments in clinical research. Value in Health, 7(s1), S13-S16.
Emmons, R. A. (2000a). Spirituality and intelligence: Problems and prospects.The international journal for the psychology of religion, 10(1), 57-64.
Emmons, R.A. (2000b). Is spirituality an intelligence? Motivation, cognition, and the psychology of ultimate concern. The International Journal for the psychology of Religion, 10(1), 3-26.
Gomez R, Fisher J.W. (2005). Spiritual wellbeing questionnaire: Testing for model applicability, measurement and structural equivalencies, and latent mean differences across gender. Personality and Individual Differences. 39(8) 1383– 1393.
Hyrkäs, K., Appelqvist-Schmidlechner, K., &Oksa, L. (2003). Validating an instrument for clinical supervision using an expert panel. International Journal of nursing studies, 40(6), 619-625.
Kennedy, J. E., & Kanthamani, H. (1995). An exploratory study of the effects of paranormal and spiritual experiences on peoples’ lives and well-being. Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 89(3), 249-264.
Kennedy, J. E., Abbott, R. A., & Rosenberg, B. S. (2002). Changes in spirituality and well-being in a retreat program for cardiac patients. Alternative therapies in health and medicine, 8(4), 64-73.
King, D.B. (2007). The Spiritual Intelligence Project. Trent University, Canada. www. Dbking. / spiritualintelligence.
Lacasse, Y, et al. (2002). Requirement of quality of life instrument in clinical research. Value Health. 7(4) 499- 503.
Lawshe, C. H. (1975). A quantitative approach to content validity1. Personnel psychology, 28(4), 563-575.
Macdonald, J. J. (2002). Spiritual Health in older men. In Proceeding of the 1th on Seminar Older men and Community.
Nasel, D. (2004). Spiritual orientation in relation to spiritual intelligence: A consideration of traditional Christianity and New Age/individualistic spirituality (Doctoral dissertation, University of South Australia).
Noble, K. D. (2001). Riding the wind horse: Spiritual intelligence and the growth of the self. New Jersey: Hampton Press.
Nunnally, J. C, Berstein IH. (1994). Psychometric Theory. 3rd edition. New York: MCgraw- Hill, Inc.
Reich, K. H. (2001, April). Fostering spiritual development: Theory, practice, measurement. Paper presented at the International Conference on Religion and Mental Health, Teheran, Iran.
Rubio, D. M., Berg-Weger, M., Tebb, S. S., Lee, E. S., & Rauch, S. (2003). Objectifying content validity: Conducting a content validity study in social work research. Social Work Research, 27(2), 94-104.
Stevens, J., Cornell, C. E., Story, M., French, S. A., Levin, S., Becenti, A., & Reid, R. (1999). Development of a questionnaire to assess knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors in American Indian children. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 69(4), 773s-781s.
Van Ness, P. H., &Kasl, S. V. (2003). Religion and cognitive dysfunction in an elderly cohort. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 58(1), S21-S29.
Vaughan, F (2002). What is Spiritual intelligence? Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 42(2), 16-33.
Waltz, C. F., &Bausell, B. R. (1981). Nursing research: design statistics and computer analysis. Davis FA. Wolman, R. (2001). Thinking with your soul: Spiritual intelligence and why it matters.
Richard N. Wolman, PhD.Yaghmaie, F. (2003). Content validity and its estimation. Journal of Medical Education. 3(1) 25-27.
Zohar, D., Marshall, I. N., & Marshall, I. (2000). SQ: Connecting with our spiritual intelligence. Bloomsbury Publishing USA.