Psychology of Religion Instrumentation: Systematic Review with an International and Multiple Faith Focus

Abstract

The psychology of religion (PR) measures has paralleled the increasing trend in the field of PR research. While culture, religion, and psychology are deeply intertwined, early researchers had used measures mainly translated from Western Judeo-Christian traditions. A systematic review provided an overview landscape of published PR measures translated, adapted or indigenously developed for non-Judeo-Christian populations across multiple faiths. There has been an increasing trend in the development of indigenous PR measures, mainly Islamic scales. The chapter also illustrated potential pitfalls of using mere translated or adapted scales, highlighting issues relating to doctrinal, cross-religion, and cross-cultural relevancies. Finally, best practices for developing PR measurements are described, which include creating items based on theological underpinning with cultural validity, good sampling and data collection practices, and adequate psychometric properties. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)