Abstract
The aim of this study was to test the psychometric properties of the European Portuguese version of a short-form instrument for assessing spiritual, religious and personal beliefs related to quality of life (WHOQOL-SRPB-BREF). The European Portuguese version of the WHOQOL-SRPB-BREF was completed by a heterogeneous sample of 606 participants (72.4% female), with a mean age of 46.88 years, and with no religious affiliation or distinct religions (71.3% Catholic). In addition to the WHOQOL-SRPB-BREF, participants completed the Portuguese versions of the Brief Religious Coping questionnaire (Brief RCOPE), and the measure of orientation toward religion AGE UNIVERSAL I-E Scale-12. The European Portuguese version of the WHOQOL-SRPB-BREF showed satisfactory reliability (Cronbach’s alpha between 0.71 and 0.87 across domains). Confirmatory factor analysis corroborated the proposed five-domain structure. Convergent validity with the general facet on QoL was satisfactory for all domains. Spiritual QoL was significantly and positively associated with positive religious coping (r = .62, p < .001), as well as intrinsic (r = .62, p < .001) and extrinsic personal (r = .34, p < .001) religious orientation. Known-groups validity considering the strength of religious, spiritual and personal beliefs was demonstrated for Spiritual QoL, however, no significant differences were found regarding sex, age, and health status. These results offer promising support for the use of the WHOQOL-SRPB-BREF as a measure of spirituality, religion and personal beliefs related to quality of life (Spiritual QoL).
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Agli, O., Bailly, N., & Ferrand, C. (2015). Spirituality and religion in older adults with dementia: A systematic review. International Psychogeriatrics, 27, 715–725.
Allport, G. W., & Ross, M. J. (1967). Personal religious orientation and prejudice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 5, 432–443.
Ano, G. G., & Vasconcelles, E. B. (2005). Religious coping and psychological adjustment to stress: A meta-analysis. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 61, 461–480.
Byrne, B. (2010). Structural equation modeling with AMOS: Basic concepts, applications and programming (2nd ed.). New York: Taylor & Francis.
Chan, K. (2018). Is religious and existential well-being important in quality of life in Hong Kong Chinese? The Social Science Journal, 55, 273–283.
Chan, K., Verplanken, B., & Skevington, S. (2017). Cross cultural application of the WHOQOL-SRPB in the Chinese community with diverse spiritual affiliations. Social Indicators Research, 132, 291–312.
Costa Catré, M. N. (2017). Qualidade de vida, espiritualidade, religiosidade e crenças pessoais. Um estudo com profissionais da educação [Quality of life, spirituality, religiousness and personal beliefs: A study with Education professionals]. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
Counted, V., Possamai, A., & Meade, T. (2018). Relational spirituality and quality of life 2007 to 2017: An integrative research review. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 16(1), 75. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12955-018-0895-x.
Deb, S., & Strodl, E. (2018). Quality of life and spirituality in Indian university students. Applied Research in Quality of Life. Advance online publication, 14, 393–408. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-018-9602-7.
Fleck, M., & Skevington, S. (2007). Explaining the meaning of the WHOQOL-SRPB. Revista de Psiquiatria Clínica, 34, 67–69.
Fleck, M., Borges, Z., Bolognesi, G., & Rocha, N. (2003). Desenvolvimento do WHOQOL, módulo espiritualidade, religiosidade e crenças pessoais [Development of WHOQOL spirituality, religiousness and personal beliefs module]. Revista de Saúde Pública, 37, 446–455.
Freire, J., & Moleiro, C. (2015). Religiosity, spirituality, and mental health in Portugal: A call for a conceptualisation, relationship, and guidelines for integration (a theoretical review). Psicologia, 29, 17–32.
Freire, J., Moleiro, C., Rosmarin, D. H., & Freire, M. (2018). A call for collaboration: Perception of religious and spiritual leaders on mental health (A Portuguese sample). Journal of Spirituality in Mental Health, 21, 55–75.
Gorsuch, R. L., & Venable, G. D. (1983). Development and validation of an age I-E scale. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 22, 181–187.
Grover, S., Shah, R., & Kulhara, P. (2013). Validation of Hindi translation of SRPB facets of WHOQOL-SRPB scale. Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine, 35, 358–363.
Harrison, M. O., Koenig, H. G., Hays, J. C., Eme-Akwari, A. G., & Pargament, K. I. (2001). The epidemiology of religious coping: A review of recent literature. International Review of Psychiatry, 13, 86–93.
Hsien-Chuan Hsu, P., Krageloh, C. U., Shepherd, D., & Billington, R. (2009). Religion/spirituality and quality of life of international tertiary students in New Zealand: An exploratory study. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 12, 385–399.
Hyland, M. E. (2003). A brief guide to the selection of quality of life instrument. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 1, 24.
Instituto Nacional de Estatística. (2012). Censos 2011: XV Recenseamento Geral da População e V Recenseamento Geral da Habitação. Lisboa: Instituto Nacional de Estatística, I.P.
Koenig, H. G. (2009). Research on religion, spirituality, and mental health: A review. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 54, 283–291.
Koenig, H. G. (2012). Religion, spirituality, and health: The research and clinical implications. International Scholarly Research Network. https://doi.org/10.5402/2012/278730.
Koenig, H. G., George, L. K., & Titus, P. (2004). Religion, spirituality, and health in medically ill hospitalized older patients. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 52, 554–562.
Kristeller, J. L., Sheets, V., Johnson, T., & Frank, B. (2011). Understanding religious and spiritual influences on adjustment to cancer: Individual patterns and differences. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 34, 550–561.
Krok, D. (2008). The role of spirituality in coping: Examining the relationships between spiritual dimensions and coping styles. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 11, 643–653. https://doi.org/10.1080/13674670801930429.
Kruizinga, R., Hartog, I. D., Jacobs, M., Daams, J. G., Scherer-Rath, M., Schilderman, J. B., … Van Laarhoven, H. W. (2016). The effect of spiritual interventions addressing existential themes using a narrative approach on quality of life of cancer patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Psycho-Oncology, 25, 253–265.
Maltby, J. (1999). The internal structure of a derived, revised and amended measure of the religious orientation scale: The 'Age-Universal' I-E Scale-12. Social Behavior and Personality, 27, 407–412.
Maltby, J., Lewis, C. A., Freeman, A., Day, L., Cruise, S. M., & Breslin, M. J. (2010). Religion and health: The application of a cognitive-behavioural framework. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 13, 749–759.
Mandhouj, O., Etter, J. F., Courvoisier, D., & Aubin, H. J. (2012). French-language version of the World Health Organization quality of life spirituality, religiousness and personal beliefs instrument. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 10(1), 39.
Moreira-Almeida, A., & Koenig, H. G. (2006). Retaining the meaning of the words religiousness and spirituality: A commentary on the WHOQOL SRPB group’s “a cross-cultural study of spirituality, religion, and personal beliefs as components of quality of life”. Social Science and Medicine, 63, 843–845.
O’Connell, K. A., & Skevington, S. M. (2005). The relevance of spirituality, religion and personal beliefs to health-related quality of life: Themes from focus groups in Britain. British Journal of Health Psychology, 10, 379–398.
O’Connell, K. A., & Skevington, S. M. (2007). To measure or not to measure? Reviewing the assessment of spirituality and religion in health-related quality of life. Chronic Illness, 3, 77–87.
O’Connell, K. A., & Skevington, S. M. (2010). Spiritual, religious, and personal beliefs are important and distinctive to assessing quality of life in health: A comparison of theoretical models. British Journal of Health Psychology, 15, 729–748.
Panzini, R. G., Maganha, C., Rocha, N. S. D., Bandeira, D. R., & Fleck, M. P. (2011). Brazilian validation of the quality of life instrument/spirituality, religion and personal beliefs. Revista de Saúde Pública, 45, 153–165.
Pargament, K. I., Smith, B. W., Koenig, H. G., & Perez, L. (1998). Patterns of positive and negative religious coping with major life stressors. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 37, 710–724.
Pargament, K. I., Koenig, H. G., Tarakeshwar, N., & Hahn, J. (2004). Religious coping methods as predictors of psychological, physical and spiritual outcomes among medically ill elderly patients: A two-year longitudinal study. Journal of Health Psychology, 9(6), 713–730.
Pargament, K., Feuille, M., & Burdzy, D. (2011). The brief RCOPE: Current psychometric status of a short measure of religious coping. Religions, 2, 51–76.
Pedersen, H. F., Pargament, K. I., Pedersen, C. G., & Zachariae, R. (2013). Religious coping and quality of life among severely ill lung patients in a secular society. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 23, 188–203.
Ramirez, S. P., Macêdo, D. S., Sales, P. M., Figueiredo, S. M., Daher, E. F., Araújo, S. M., et al. (2012). The relationship between religious coping, psychological distress and quality of life in hemodialysis patients. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 72, 129–135.
Rosmarin, D. H., Wachholtz, A., & Ai, A. (2011). Beyond descriptive research: Advancing the study of spirituality and health. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 34, 409–413.
Salsman, J. M., Brown, T. L., Brechting, E. H., & Carlson, C. R. (2005). The link between religion and spirituality and psychological adjustment: The mediating role of optimism and social support. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31(4), 522–535.
Skevington, S. M., Gunson, K. S., & O’Connell, K. A. (2013). Introducing the WHOQOL-SRPB BREF: Developing a short-form instrument for assessing spiritual, religious and personal beliefs within quality of life. Quality of Life Research, 22, 1073–1083.
Smith, T. B., McCullough, M. E., & Poll, J. (2003). Religiousness and depression: Evidence for a main effect and the moderating influence of stressful life events. Psychological Bulletin, 129, 614–636.
Streiner, D. L., & Norman, G. N. (1995). Health measurement scales: A practical guide to their development and use (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Teixeira, A. (2012). Identidades religiosas em Portugal: Representações, valores e práticas [Religious identities in Portugal: Representations, values and practices]. Universidade Católica Portuguesa. Retrieved from http://www.agencia.ecclesia.pt/dlds/bo/Inqurito2011_Resumo.pdf
Terwee, C. B., Bot, S. D., de Boer, M. R., van der Windt, D. A., Knol, D. L., Dekker, J., et al. (2007). Quality criteria were proposed for measurement properties of health status questionnaires. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 60, 34–42.
Trevino, K. M., Pargament, K. I., Cotton, S., Leonard, A. C., Hahn, J., Caprini-Faigin, C. A., & Tsevat, J. (2007). Religious coping and physiological, psychological, social, and spiritual outcomes in patients with HIV/AIDS: Cross-sectional and longitudinal findings. AIDS and Behavior, 14, 379–389.
WHOQOL Group. (1994). Development of the WHOQOL: Rationale and current status. International Journal of Mental Health, 23(3), 24–56.
WHOQOL Group. (1995). The World Health Organization quality of life assessment (WHOQOL): Position paper from the World Health Organization. Social Science & Medicine, 41, 1403–1409.
WHOQOL Group. (1998a). Development of World Health Organization WHOQOL-BREF quality of life assessment. Psychological Medicine, 28, 551–558.
WHOQOL Group. (1998b). The World Health Organization quality of life assessment (WHOQOL): Development and general psychometric properties. Social Science & Medicine, 46, 1569–1585.
WHOQOL SRPB Group (2002). WHOQOL Spirituality, Religiousness, and Personal Beliefs (SRPB) Field-Test Instrument. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/mental_health/media/en/622.pdf
WHOQOL SRPB Group. (2006). A cross-cultural study of spirituality, religion, and personal beliefs as components of quality of life. Social Science & Medicine, 62, 1486–1497. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2005.08.001.
World Health Organization (2002). WHOQOL-SRPB Users Manual. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/mental_health/media/en/620.pdf
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Research Involving Human Participants and/or Animals
All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
Informed Consent
Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Catré, M.N.C., Ferreira, J.A., Catré, M.C. et al. Development and Application of a Short-Form Questionnaire for Assessing Spiritual, Religious and Personal Beliefs Related to Quality of Life (WHOQOL-SRPB-BREF) in Portugal. Applied Research Quality Life 16, 241–258 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-019-09764-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-019-09764-7