The Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS): Cross-cultural assessment across 5 continents, 10 languages, and 300 studies

Abstract

The Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS) was created in 1982 as a subjective measure of quality of life. It has been used in approximately 300 studies, 200 theses and dissertations, and 35 professional presentations. It has contributed to research in psychology and healthcare globally, and has been translated into over 10 languages-a summary of which is presented in this chapter. Development of the SWBS was based on the observation that people make meaning out of the ambiguity of life by defining goals or values toward which to strive-whether physical, personal, secular, or religious. Because not all things for which people strive are identifiably religious, the word "spiritual" came into use to refer to strivings-in-general. "Spirituality" referred to the achievement of a state of being, or the motivation to be, "spiritual." SWB is related to, but does not equal, spiritual or spirituality. Because SWB is typically described in two ways, the SWBS has two subscales that yield outcome measures of perceived well-being in two senses: (1) The religious well-being (RWB) subscale reflects SWB in traditionally religious language, because many people explain what SWB means to them in such terms; (2) The existential well-being (EWB) subscale reflects SWB in a-religious, existential language because many people describe their SWB in such terms. RWB and EWB subscale scores can be combined into total SWB, if a combined score is meaningful for the population studied. The present chapter summarizes SWBS research and translations, critiques the SWBS and some of its uses, and suggests future uses and improvements. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021.