Belief into Action Scale: A Brief but Comprehensive Measure of Religious Commitment

Abstract

Objective: Our goal was to develop a comprehensive measure of religious involvement for those affiliated with monotheistic religious traditions that fully captures the centrality of religion in life. Methods: A convenience sample of female caregivers of those with chronic disabling illness, recruited from North Carolina and California, completed a questionnaire including a new 10-item scale called the Belief into Action (BIAC) scale (possible score range 10 - 100). Psychometric properties of the BIAC were examined. Results: 231 participants completed the BIAC (87% Christian). The average score was 46.3 (range 10 – 90). Cronbach alpha was 0.89 (95% CI 0.86 - 0.91) and the intra-class correlation coefficient between two administrations (n = 60) was 0.919 (95% CI 0.869 - 0.951). Convergent validity was demonstrated by high correlations between the BIAC and existing religiosity scales; divergent validity by weak correlations with mental, social, and physical health outcomes; construct validity by high correlations between individual items and total scale score (r’s 0.58 - 0.80); factor analytic validity by a single factor that explained 94.4% of the scale’s variance; and predictive validity by small to moderate correlations with psychosocial outcomes in expected directions. Conclusion: The BIAC is a reliable and valid scale for comprehensively assessing religious involvement in female caregivers affiliated with monotheistic religions, Christianity in particular. Psychometric properties of the scale need to be established in other populations.