2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Development of a cross-cultural measurement of spirituality based on a qualitative study on the spirituality of elderly Japanese and American individuals

Research Project

Project/Area Number	22592538
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Research Field	Community health/Gerontological nurisng
Research Institution	Chiba University
Principal Investigator	IMAMURA Emiko 千葉大学, 看護学研究科, 講師 (50571337)
Project Period (FY)	2010-04-01 – 2013-03-31
Keywords	看護学 / スピリチュアリティ / 国際情報 / 高齢者 / ヘルスプロモーション
Research Abstract	The purpose of this study was to develop a cross-cultural measure of spirituality for Japanese and American elders. Based on Heuristic Inquiry, a semi open-ended questionnaire was developed. Using the questionnaire, semi-structural interviews were provided to 16 Japanese and 15 Caucasian community-residing elders in order to unveil perceptions and lived-experiences of spirituality and spirituality's influence on health and health promotion behaviors. Elders' narrative data were coded and integrated into 25 items by means of an NVivo program. Principal component analysis with promax rotation demonstrated a 19-item, five-factor solution accounting for 51.2% of the variance. Internal consistency was supported with Cronbach's alpha of .65-.87 for the items and .79 for the entire scale. To further improve the psychometric property of the scale, more interviews of elderly with diverse cultural backgrounds are required and a confirmatory factor analysis should be performed in future studies.