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The Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS): Cross-Cultural Assessment Across 5 Continents, 10 Languages, and 300 Studies

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Assessing Spirituality in a Diverse World

Abstract

The Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS) was created in 1982 as a subjective measure of quality of life. It has been used in approximately 300 studies, 200 theses and dissertations, and 35 professional presentations. It has contributed to research in psychology and healthcare globally, and has been translated into over 10 languages—a summary of which is presented in this chapter. Development of the SWBS was based on the observation that people make meaning out of the ambiguity of life by defining goals or values toward which to strive—whether physical, personal, secular, or religious. Because not all things for which people strive are identifiably religious, the word “spiritual” came into use to refer to strivings-in-general. “Spirituality” referred to the achievement of a state of being, or the motivation to be, “spiritual.” SWB is related to, but does not equal, spiritual or spirituality. Because SWB is typically described in two ways, the SWBS has two subscales that yield outcome measures of perceived well-being in two senses: (1) The religious well-being (RWB) subscale reflects SWB in traditionally religious language, because many people explain what SWB means to them in such terms; (2) The existential well-being (EWB) subscale reflects SWB in a-religious, existential language because many people describe their SWB in such terms. RWB and EWB subscale scores can be combined into total SWB, if a combined score is meaningful for the population studied. The present chapter summarizes SWBS research and translations, critiques the SWBS and some of its uses, and suggests future uses and improvements.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS) ©1982 Craig W. Ellison & Raymond F. Paloutzian, © 2011 Raymond F. Paloutzian. All rights reserved to the English SWBS and its translations. Do not duplicate without permission of copyright holder or www.lifeadvance.com.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Westmont College, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

    Raymond F. Paloutzian

  2. Istanbul Medeniyet University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Zuhâl Agilkaya-Sahin

  3. Western Seminary, Portland, OR, USA

    Kay C. Bruce

  4. Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

    Marianne Nilsen Kvande

  5. Palacky University Olomouc, Olomouc, Czechia

    Klara Malinakova

  6. Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil

    Luciana Fernandes Marques

  7. Al al-Bayt University, Mafraq, Jordan

    Ahmad S. Musa

  8. Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Marzieh Nojomi

  9. Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Eyüp Ensar Öztürk

  10. Universitas Indonesia, Depok, Indonesia

    Indah Permata Putri

  11. Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Seoul, South Korea

    Suk-Kyung You

Authors
  1. Raymond F. Paloutzian
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  2. Zuhâl Agilkaya-Sahin
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  3. Kay C. Bruce
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  4. Marianne Nilsen Kvande
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  5. Klara Malinakova
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  6. Luciana Fernandes Marques
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  7. Ahmad S. Musa
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  8. Marzieh Nojomi
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  9. Eyüp Ensar Öztürk
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  10. Indah Permata Putri
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  11. Suk-Kyung You
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Raymond F. Paloutzian .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA

    Amy L. Ai

  2. Department of Psychology, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA, USA

    Paul Wink

  3. Westmont College, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

    Raymond F. Paloutzian

  4. Algos Behavioral Health Services, San Antonio, TX, USA

    Kevin A. Harris

Appendices

Adapted from Paloutzian (2016).

Appendix A: Spiritual Well-Being Scale

For each of the following statements circle the choice that best indicates the extent of your agreement or disagreement as it describes your personal experience:

SA = Strongly Agree

D = Disagree

MA = Moderately Agree

MD = Moderately Disagree

A = Agree

SD = Strongly Disagree

1.

I don’t find much satisfaction in private prayer with God.

SA

MA

A

D

MD

SD

2.

I don’t know who I am, where I came from, or where I’m going.

SA

MA

A

D

MD

SD

3.

I believe that God loves me and cares about me.

SA

MA

A

D

MD

SD

4.

I feel that life is a positive experience.

SA

MA

A

D

MD

SD

5.

I believe that God is impersonal and not interested in my daily situations.

SA

MA

A

D

MD

SD

6.

I feel unsettled about my future.

SA

MA

A

D

MD

SD

7.

I have a personally meaningful relationship with God.

SA

MA

A

D

MD

SD

8.

I feel very fulfilled and satisfied with life.

SA

MA

A

D

MD

SD

9.

I don’t get much personal strength and support from my God

SA

MA

A

D

MD

SD

10.

I feel a sense of well-being about the direction my life is headed in.

SA

MA

A

D

MD

SD

11.

I believe that God is concerned about my problems.

SA

MA

A

D

MD

SD

12.

I don’t enjoy much about life.

SA

MA

A

D

MD

SD

13.

I don’t have a personally satisfying relationship with God.

SA

MA

A

D

MD

SD

14.

I feel good about my future.

SA

MA

A

D

MD

SD

15.

My relationship with God helps me not to feel lonely.

SA

MA

A

D

MD

SD

16.

I feel that life is full of conflict and unhappiness.

SA

MA

A

D

MD

SD

17.

I feel most fulfilled when I’m in close communion with God.

SA

MA

A

D

MD

SD

18.

Life doesn’t have much meaning.

SA

MA

A

D

MD

SD

19.

My relation with God contributes to my sense of well-being.

SA

MA

A

D

MD

SD

20.

I believe there is some real purpose for my life.

SA

MA

A

D

MD

SD

  1. SWB Scale (SWBS) © 1982 by Craig W. Ellison and Raymond F. Paloutzian; 2011 R. F. Paloutzian. All rights reserved to the English SWBS and its translations. Not to be duplicated unless expressed written permission is granted by the copyright holder or www.lifeadvance.com

Appendix B: Methods of Translation

Adapted from Paloutzian (2016).

Essential in making a good translation of a psychological scale is to follow certain well-established procedures. Three procedures have been especially successful in producing a translated scale useful for research purposes. After the initial translation is made, it is subject to standard statistical procedures in order to assess reliability, validity, and factor structure.

1.1 Back-Translation

The first method makes use of a back-translation. The researcher begins by having a qualified individual who is competent in both languages translate the original into the second language. Then a second qualified person, equally competent in both languages, begins with the translated version and translates it back into the original language. Then the original and the back-translated version are compared. If they are equivalent, then the translated version is considered satisfactory; if not, then the procedure is repeated until satisfactory results are obtained.

1.2 Translation by Committee

A second method is to have the translation made by a small committee of qualified people, all of whom are competent in both languages. There are two variations of this procedure. In the first procedure, each individual makes a translated version of the scale independently. The committee then meets and all versions are examined and compared by all on the committee, and discrepancies among the translations are discussed and weighed until consensus is reached on a final version. In the second procedure, the committee meets as a whole and its members collaborate via discussion as the make one translation of the scale; differences in opinion about the wording of specific items are worked out in the discussion until consensus is reached.

1.3 Committee Plus Back-Translation

A third method is an extension of the translation-by-committee method noted above. This third method has the same two variations in procedure as noted above. But in both cases, the final agreed-upon version of the translated scale is given to another person, not part of the translating team, who makes a back-translation of it into the original language. Then the original and the back-translated version are compared. If they are equivalent, then the translated version is considered satisfactory; if not, then the procedure is repeated until satisfactory results are obtained.

1.4 Translate Meanings, Not Words

The most important thing in translating a scale is not that the exact words be translated literally, but that the meaning of each item be translated so that what a subject understands it to be asking is the psychological equivalent in the new language to what it is in the original language. This means that sometimes a literal exact translation may not work, but a translation with modifications of words or phrases may work well. These things are found out by testing the translated instrument, beginning with its individual items (Wolf, Ihm, Maul, & Taves, 2021; Taves, 2020), in its cross-cultural context. In the hypothetical “perfect” translation, a score on the translated scale and the equivalent score on the original scale would represent the exact same meaning in the minds of the subjects. Such an outcome is an ideal scenario; well-done translations approximate it as much as possible.

Appendix C: Additional Resources on SWBS Translations

  • Chaves, E. D. C. L. (2008). Revisão do diagnóstico de enfermagem angústia spiritual. Doctoral dissertation, Universidade de São Paulo.

  • Chequini, M. C. M. (2009). Resiliência e espiritualidade em pacientes oncológicos: uma abordagem junguiana. Doctoral dissertation, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo.

  • Esperandio, M. R. G., & Marques, L. (2015). The psychology of religion in Brazil. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 25(4), 255-257.

  • Kemenkes, R. I. (2014). Profil kesehatan Indonesia Tahun 2014. Diambil kembali dari: http://www.depkes.go.id/resources/download/pusdatin/profil-kesehatan-indonesia/profil-kesehatan-indonesia-2014.pdf. (Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia. [2014]. Health Profile Indonesia year 2014.)

  • Kvande, M. N., Klöckner, C. A., & Nielsen, M. E. (2015). Church Attendance and Religious Experience:Differential Associations to Well-Being for Norwegian Women and Men? SAGE Open, 5(4), 2158244015612876. doi:10.1177/2158244015612876

  • Liu, Y.-H. (2010). Spiritual well-being and acculturative stress among older Chinese immigrants in the United States. Gerontology Program, California State University, Long Beach, California, USA.

  • Malinakova, K., Kopcakova, K., Madarasova Geckova, A., van Dijk, J. P., Furstova, J., Kalman, M., Tavel, P., & Reijneveld, S. A. (2018). “I am spiritual, but not religious”: Does one without the other protect against adolescent health-risk behaviour? International Journal of Public Health: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-018-1116-4

  • Malinakova, K., Madarasova Geckova, A., van Dijk, J. P., Kalman, M., Tavel, P., & Reijneveld, S. A. (2018). Adolescent religious attendance and spirituality: Are they associated with leisure-time choices? PLoS ONE 13(6), 1-14: e0198314. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0198314

  • Marques, L. F. (2000). A saúde e o bem-estar espiritual em adultos porto-alegrenses. Doctoral dissertation, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul.

  • Martinez, E. Z., Almeida, R. G. D. S., Garcia, F. R., & Carvalho, A. C. D. D. (2013). Notes on the Portuguese-language version of the Spiritual Well-Being Scale. Jornal Brasileiro de Psiquiatria, 62(1), 76-80.

  • Paloutzian, R. F. (2016). The Spiritual Well-Being Scale: Portuguese translation and SWBS use. Horizonte – Revisita de Estudos de Teologia e Ciencias da Religiao (Horizonte -- Journal of Theology and Religious Studies), 14 (41), 76-86.

  • Promkaewngam, S., Pothi ban, L., Srisuphan, W., & Khanokporn, S. (2014). Development of the Spiritual Well-being Scale for Thai Buddhist Adults with Chronic Illness. Pacific Rim International Journal of Nursing Research, 18(4), 320-332.

  • Silva, L. A. C. D. (2016). Espiritualidades e bem-estar espiritual no processo formativo de estudante de psicologia do Recife–PE à luz da abordagem integral/transpessoal. Master Dissertation, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco.

  • Silva, L. H. P., Penha, R. M., & Silva, M. J. P. (2012). Relação entre crenças espirituais/religiosas e bem-estar espiritual da equipe de enfermagem. Northeast Network Nursing Journal, 13(3).

  • Silva, R. D. P., Souza, P. D., Nogueira, D. A., Moreira, D. D. S., & Chaves, E. D. C. L. (2013). Relationship between spiritual well-being, sociodemographic characteristics and use of alcohol and other drugs by students. Jornal Brasileiro de Psiquiatria, 62(3), 191-198.

  • Tang W-R. (2008). Spiritual assessment and care of cancer patients. School of Nursing, Chang Gung University, Taiwan, R.O.C.

  • Velasco, L., Rioux, L. (2009). Adaptation et validation en langue franc¸aise d’une e´chelle de bien-eˆtre spiritual. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 41 (2), 102–108. DOI: 10.1037/a0012555.

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Paloutzian, R.F. et al. (2021). The Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS): Cross-Cultural Assessment Across 5 Continents, 10 Languages, and 300 Studies. In: Ai, A.L., Wink, P., Paloutzian, R.F., Harris, K.A. (eds) Assessing Spirituality in a Diverse World. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52140-0_17

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