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Spiritual Openness, Revisiting a Potentially Important Aspect of Spirituality: Scale Review and Revision

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Abstract

Religiousness and spirituality (R/S) exert important influences on individuals across a range of domains. Spiritual Openness is theoretically linked with the personality trait of Openness to Experience, suggesting promise for future research. Using responses from 366 undergraduates on the Spiritual Experience Index-Revised (SEI-R: subscales of Spiritual Openness and Spiritual Support), analyses evaluated and revised the SEI-R, deleting poor items and generating a 10-item measure. The new SEI-S exhibits better psychometric properties and reduced participant burden, and subscales displayed a curvilinear relationship in which increases in Spiritual Openness showed a trade-off in levels of Spiritual Support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Capstone College of Nursing, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, USA

    Joshua C. Eyer

  2. The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA

    Shweta Kapoor, Martha A. Combs, Emberly M. Jay & Beverly E. Thorn

  3. University of Texas Medical School at Houston, Houston, TX, USA

    Shweta Kapoor

  4. South Texas Veterans Health Care System, San Antonio, TX, USA

    Martha A. Combs

  5. University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA

    Emberly M. Jay

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  1. Joshua C. Eyer
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  2. Shweta Kapoor
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  3. Martha A. Combs
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  4. Emberly M. Jay
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  5. Beverly E. Thorn
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Correspondence to Joshua C. Eyer.

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Eyer, J.C., Kapoor, S., Combs, M.A. et al. Spiritual Openness, Revisiting a Potentially Important Aspect of Spirituality: Scale Review and Revision. J Relig Health 57, 883–900 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-017-0444-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-017-0444-7

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