Adaptation, Development, and Validation of the Spiritual Community and Togetherness Scale (SCoTS)

Abstract

We adapted the SCoTS from the Collegiate Psychological Sense of Community Scale to measure religious/spiritual (R/S) community and belonging among college students. Emerging research indicates that participation and involvement in R/S groups among college students has been associated with their success, quality of life, and well-being. Development of the SCoTS included item reformatting, scale restructuring, exploratory factor analyses, confirmatory factor analysis, and convergent/discriminant analyses. Results in Study 1 show support for both one- and two-factor solutions in a sample of 357 university students. We named our loaded factors Belonging and Member Involvement. In Study 2, our confirmatory factor analyses with a sample of 399 university students affirmed a two-factor solution. Analyses showed unique aspects of the SCoTS when compared to similar measures. We end with a discussion of the implications and utility of the SCoTS for clinicians, healthcare providers, and educators.

Keywords

• spiritual community
• togetherness
• belonging
• mental health
• college students
• factor analysis