Date of Award

2003-04-01

Degree Name

PhD Nursing

Dissertation Committee

Jane M. Georges, PhD, RN, Chair; Janet K. Harrison, EdD, RN; Murrill Tull, DMin

Keywords

nursing, Psychometric evaluation, spirituality, Wikoff Spiritual Focus Questionnaire

Abstract

Spirituality is a concept that has been a part of nursing since nursing began. In every culture spirituality is a component of healing. However, in the United States, nurses seldom assess the concept of spirituality and the patient's spiritual needs are often not addressed. Wikoff Spiritual Focus Questionnaire was designed to help nurses assess and meet the patient's spiritual needs. A review of literature revealed that spirituality was comprised of a relationship between a Higher Power, Self, Others, and Nature which resulted in a sense of being, knowing and life purpose. A fifth dimension of Religion was identified through a pilot study of the Wikoff Spiritual Focus Questionnaire. The purpose of this study was to refine and test the psychometric properties of the Wikoff Spiritual Focus Questionnaire (WSFQ). Psychometric analysis of the WSFQ was used to refine the questionnaire from-50-items to 20-items using the results from item analysis and exploratory factor analysis. The final 20-items were tested for internal consistency reliability and confirmatory factor analysis. The WSFQ was validated with a convenience sample (N = 256) of women using exploratory factor analysis and with a sample of acute care inpatients (N = 200) using confirmatory factor analysis. The resulting analysis revealed that the five components (a relationship with a Higher Power, Self, Others, Nature and Religion) were demonstrated have a Coefficient Alpha that ranged from .89-.96. The confirmatory factor analysis yielded a mediocre fit to the postulated five-factor solution. There is strong support for the ongoing use and testing of this questionnaire. Recommendations include continued evaluation using a larger sample size and in combination with the nursing care plan. This tool can provide nursing with method of measuring spiritual importance in the patient's life and can then lead to developing appropriate nursing interventions to improve spiritual coping and in improved healing overall.

Document Type

Dissertation: Open Access

Department

Nursing

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