Measuring transcednence among Chinese older adults: a spiritual approach

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Spiritual care is one of the key elements of the holistic care perspective. In our previous studies, we reflected that spirituality among Chinese older adults should be understood in a context of nonreligious lifestyle. This study aims to validate the spirituality measure, Transcendence Scale for Chinese Elders (TSCE). METHOD: The draft version of TSCE was developed based on focus groups, in-depth interviews and a Delphi process. Together with other standardized measures, including World Health Organization Quality of Life measures (WHOQoL), Purpose in Life (PIL), and Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PNAS), the 16-items, 5-point TSCE draft was administered to 825 older adults in Hong Kong and Shanghai. RESULTS: Face and content validity of TSCE were established during a Delphi process. Confirmatory factor analysis identified a six-item, one-factor model that showed satisfactory model fit indexes (SRMR=.036, C-CFI=.953, R-RMSEA=.063). The internal consistency reliability of the 6-item TSCE was satisfactory as indicated by Chronbach’s alpha of .70. TSCE also showed satisfactory criterion-related reliability as indicated by having moderate correlation with PNAS (r=.47), Purpose in Life (r=.35), and psychological well-being as measured by WHOQoL (r=.35). CONCLUSION: TSCE was developed to measure transcendence among Chinese older adults’ spirituality. Results of the present study showed that TSCE was a reliable and valid measure that assesses transcendence among the Chinese older population in which the social cultural context is featured by non-religious, relationship-oriented and interdependent self-construct. Implications for how to enhance spirituality among Chinese older adults will be discussed.