Factor Analysis of the Spiritual Well-being Questionnaire Using a Sample of South African Adolescents

In 2003 Gomez and Fisher developed the Spiritual Well-being Questionnaire (SWBQ) based on a theoretical model of spiritual well-being proposed by Fisher. According to Fisher, spiritual wellbeing comprises the personal, communal, environmental and transcendental domains, which are interrelated and cohere to create a global spiritual well-being dimension. Their study showed that the SWBQ was reliable and valid. A further study in 2005 using item response theory analysis of the SWBQ suggested general support for the psychometric properties of the SWBQ. However, there were indications that certain items in the questionnaire needed to be improved. The present study was undertaken to do a factor analysis of the SWBQ using a sample of South African adolescents to gauge its suitability. Gomez and Fisher's recommendation was considered and certain items were added to the SWBQ for factor analysis with the aim of replacing some of the original items. The factor structure that was found in this study corresponds with that in Gomez and Fisher's study. Acceptable coeffficients of internal consistency for the diffferent subscales (factors) and for the global score of the SWBQ were found. Moreover, in line with Gomez and Fisher's recommendation, this revised SWBQ scale seems to have been improved in terms of its psychometric properties and appears to be a reliable instrument in measuring the spiritual well-being of adolescents.