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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Donald W. Parker, MS and James A. Neff, PhD. College of Health Sciences, Old Dominion University, Technology Building, Norfolk, VA 23529, 757-672-5245, dwpdoc@cox.net

Physicians and other scientist who engage in the delivery of healthcare or healthcare research have begun to reexamine the possibility that what their patients believe—about the existence and nature of God—could be significant in their diagnosis and treatment. Integrating tools that measure spiritual beliefs and addressing those beliefs in the interventions could greatly enhance the success of substance use treatment, mental and physical health care. Despite this increasing attention to the health effects of spirituality, questions remain regarding the conceptualization and measurement of ‘spirituality'—particularly in terms of multi-dimensional measures of spirituality appropriate for ethnic minority populations. Most of the tools recently developed to measure spirituality have been developed in academic settings (i.e., with college student populations) rather than through work with community populations. This tool, a multi-dimensional measure of spirituality, was based upon input from minority individuals in the community. The multi-dimensional measure of spirituality and spiritual change was evaluated in two separate samples (n1= 237 minority substance abusers, n2= 184 members of a primarily minority church). An exploratory factor analysis of the multi-dimensional measure of spirituality and spiritual change of the first sample supported a four dimension structure: God, Others, Self, and Religious Identification as they relate to spiritually and spiritual change. Analyses will be presented examining correlations between the new scales and The Duke University Religion Index, which has been proven valid and reliable as a measure of spirituality and religiosity, establishing the concurrent validity of the new measure in the second, church-oriented sample.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to

• Recognize the importance of integrating a spirituality assessment in the development of interventions.
• Identify two specific tools to measure spirituality.
• Discuss the use of a multi-dimensional measure of spirituality.

Keywords: Substance Abuse Treatment, Religion

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered