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Measuring spiritual well-being in people with cancer: The functional assessment of chronic illness therapy—spiritual well-being scale (FACIT-Sp)

  • Published:
Annals of Behavioral Medicine

Abstract

A significant relation between religion and better health has been demonstrated in a variety of healthy and patient populations. In the past several years, there has been a focus on the role of spirituality, as distinct from religion, in health promotion and coping with illness. Despite the growing interest, there remains a dearth of well-validated, psychometrically sound instruments to measure aspects of spirituality. In this article we report on the development and testing of a measure of spiritual well-being, the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-Being (FACIT-Sp), within two samples of cancer patients. The instrument comprises two sub scales—one measuring a sense of meaning and peace and the other assessing the role of faith in illness. A total score for spiritual well-being is also produced. Study 1 demonstrates good internal consistency reliability and a significant relation with quality of life in a large, multiethnic sample. Study 2 examines convergent validity with 5 other measures of religion and spirituality in a sample of individuals with mixed early stage and metastatic cancer diagnoses. Results of the two studies demonstrate that the FACIT-Sp is a psychometrically sound measure of spiritual well-being for people with cancer and other chronic illnesses.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Northwestern University, USA

    Amy H. Peterman Ph.D.

  2. Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’Medical Center, USA

    George Fitchett D. Min.

  3. Northwestern University, USA

    Marianne J. Brady Ph.D. & David Cella Ph.D.

  4. University of Puerto Rico, USA

    Lesbia Hernandez Pharm.D., M.P.H.

Authors
  1. Amy H. Peterman Ph.D.
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  2. George Fitchett D. Min.
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  3. Marianne J. Brady Ph.D.
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  4. Lesbia Hernandez Pharm.D., M.P.H.
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  5. David Cella Ph.D.
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Amy H. Peterman Ph.D..

Additional information

This research was supported by Grant No. 5 R01 CA61679 from the U.S. Public Health Service (National Cancer Institute) and by an unrestricted educational grant from Ortho-Biotech, Inc.

We thank Helen Albrecht Morrow and Marla Moss Avery for their invaluable administrative assistance with this article.

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Peterman, A.H., Fitchett, G., Brady, M.J. et al. Measuring spiritual well-being in people with cancer: The functional assessment of chronic illness therapy—spiritual well-being scale (FACIT-Sp). ann. behav. med. 24, 49–58 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1207/S15324796ABM2401_06

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1207/S15324796ABM2401_06

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