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Editorial
. 2025 Apr;64(2):711-715.
doi: 10.1007/s10943-025-02293-8.

Nurses, Chaplains, Clergy and Measurement Scales

Lindsay B Carey  1   2 , Harold G Koenig  3   4 , Jeffery Cohen  5 , Carl Aiken  6 , David Drummond  7 , Terrence Hill  8 , Ezra Gabbay  9 , Piret Paal  10 , Jacinda R Carey  11
Affiliations
Editorial

Nurses, Chaplains, Clergy and Measurement Scales

Lindsay B Carey et al. J Relig Health. 2025 Apr.

Abstract

Much of the research in this issue relates to the long-standing profession of nursing and, secondly, the even longer established professions of chaplaincy and the clergy. This issue also provides evidence of the ever-increasing number of religious and spirituality measurement scales, as well as various other forms of religious and/or spiritual evaluations and the associated psychometric properties. Several articles researching religiosity/spirituality, however, identify common research limitations, in particular the error of using contaminated scales and the need to avoid tautological and uninterpretable results. Finally, this issue notes two international conferences for 2025 relating to religion, spirituality and health.

Keywords: Chaplains; Clergy; Contaminated scales; Nurses; Psychometric properties; Religion and spirituality scales.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Competing Interests: The authors have no competing interest to declare.

References

    1. Bambling, M. (2025). The problem of scale contamination and construct validity in mental health, social science and spirituality-related research. Health and Social Care Chaplaincy, 12(2), 210–216. https://doi.org/10.1558/hscc.31277 - DOI
    1. JORH. (2021). COVID-19, nursing, pediatrics and measuring religion and health. In Journal of Religion and Health, 60(1). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-020-01174-6
    1. JORH (2023b) Care of the aged, women’s health, and measuring religion, spirituality and health. In Journal of Religion and Health, 62(5). https://link.springer.com/journal/10943/volumes-and-issues/62-5
    1. JORH. (2023c). Chaplaincy, clergy, prayer, cancer and measuring religion and health. In Journal of Religion and Health, 62(3). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-023-01813-8
    1. JORH (2023a). Chaplaincy, Judaism, Ukraine, COVID-19 and JORH Jubilee. In Journal of Religion and Health 62 (1). https://link.springer.com/journal/10943/volumes-and-issues/62-1

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