Psychometrics Properties of the Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale in a Romanian Clinical Sample. A Pilot Study

"Background: In the last decades, there has been a growing interest in studying the effects of spirituality/religiosity on health. Many studies concluded that spirituality/religiosity has a beneficial effect on mental and physical health. To study these effects, validated instruments for measuring spirituality are needed. A good example of a largely used instrument is the Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale (DSES). The current study sought to examine the psychometric properties of Romanian version of DSES. Method: Exploratory Factor Analysis and Principal Components Analysis were used to confirm the construct validity of the scale. The internal consistency of the scale was determined using Cronbach’s alpha. Results: 70 patients with a diagnosis of depression and 160 healthy volunteers were included in this cross-sectional study. Cronbach’s alpha indicated excellent internal consistency of the scale. Principal Component Analysis indicated a two-component solution in both samples. Conclusions: Our study confirmed the validity and reliability of the Romanian version of DSES and it encourages its use in future studies of spirituality or studies regarding the influence of spirituality on depression."