Investigating the Spirituality Well Being Scale (SWBS) and Its Role in Health Promotion of Breast Cancer Prevention Among African American Women

Theoretical Background and research questions/hypothesis: African American women are dying and or suffering from breast cancer in disproportionate numbers when compared to other ethnicities. Emerging research indicates spirituality as a component that should be considered as a factor in health education materials when targeting this population due to religious beliefs and activities. Health messages affiliated with an individual’s spirituality (connection to a higher being) may influence health beliefs when presented in breast cancer screening information.  This pilot study tested the strength of the SWBS (Ellison, 1983) with an African American sample concerning breast cancer risk. The two dimensional scale is widely used however recent studies show the scale may not accurately measure spiritual beliefs among this population (Utsey, Lee, Bolden & Lanier, 2005).   The central hypothesis of this project is that a spiritual well being scale may provide clues as to health belief and behavior change among African American women and thus could be an important factor to consider in health messages targeting African American women.  

Methods: The scale was administered to 32 African American women along with questions about breast cancer risk and health seeking behavior. Principal Components Analysis and subsequently Principal Factor Analysis were conducted to analyze data.

Results: Principal Factor Analysis resulted in five scale factors. All factors explained 62.52% of the total variance with factor one explaining 15.49 % (α = .82) (Life Satisfaction), Factor Two 14.58 % (Disconnection with God), Factor Three 12.58% (Connection with God), Factor Four 10.28% (Life Purpose) and Five 9.59% (Life Dissatisfaction). Results from the exploratory factor analyses show a five-factor scale may be more appropriate to measure spiritual well-being rather than the two-factor SWBS used with the general population.

Conclusions: The pilot study further confirms the SWBS may not be the most appropriate scale to measure spiritual well being among African American women; a different scale that accounts for cultural norms may be more appropriate. The pilot also yielded information that shows there is a correlation between spiritual well being and health information seeking and also breast cancer screening knowledge.

Implications for research and/or practice: This information would be useful to health communication personnel, healthcare educators and providers concerning the impact of spirituality on health beliefs among African American women.