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. 2024 Oct;63(5):3729-3743.
doi: 10.1007/s10943-024-02112-6. Epub 2024 Aug 28.

Religion, Spirituality and Health Research: Warning of Contaminated Scales

Harold G Koenig  1   2   3   4 , Lindsay B Carey  5   6   7
Affiliations

Religion, Spirituality and Health Research: Warning of Contaminated Scales

Harold G Koenig et al. J Relig Health. 2024 Oct.

Abstract

The relationship between religiosity, spirituality and health has received increasing attention in the academic literature. Studies involving quantitative measurement of religiosity and/or spirituality (R/S) and health have reported many positive associations between these constructs. The quality of various measures, however, is very important in this field, given concerns that some measures of R/S have been contaminated with indicators of mental health. When this occurs, that is when R/S is defined and measured a priori, this subsequently guarantees a positive association between R/S and health (especially mental health). Such associations are called tautological, which involves correlating a construct with itself, thus producing associations that are uninterpretable and misleading. In this article, concerns about the measurement of R/S are discussed, examples of contaminated and potentially probelmatic measures of R/S are noted, and recommendations are made regarding uncontaminated measures of R/S that should be used in future studies of R/S and health.

Keywords: Contaminated scales; Measurement; Religion; Scales; Spirituality; Tautology.

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