Spirituality Quotient
The importance of spirituality receives overwhelming public affirmation as to its importance but it has historically neglected in education, nursing, and psychotherapy. The importance of Emotional Intelligence or EQ has been long established; spiritual needs have not been systematically examined and studied.
In this study, 200 participants from north eastern US were surveyed to examine their attitudes, beliefs and understanding of spirituality. Participants responded to the 25-item SQ Questionnaire, designed by Kalayjian, which explores meaning of spirituality in people’s lives and its impact. Almost half of all respondents considered themselves to be spiritual. The participants consisted of 66 males and 132 females.
When asked of how participants define spirituality, 20.5% stated “a higher power,” 17% stated “spiritual/soul,” and 15% said “inner being.” Twenty-three percent of participants believed that one achieves spirituality through self-awareness and meditation, while 13.5% believed it came via experience and 12.5% other (creative energy, meaning in life, loving self & others, education & knowledge).
Twenty-six percent of the participants believed one gains knowledge of spirituality through education, teaching, & knowledge, while 14% believed it was acquired through experience, and 10.5% believed it came from self-awareness. The majority of the participants believed that spiritual role models were important, but many did not have one. The overwhelming majority (73%) believed that there are benefits of being spiritual.
Study findings elicit that spiritual growth is a completely personal experience; it is independent and unique for each individual, and it is not necessarily connected
to religion.
Further research is recommended to examine SQ on a larger scale. Also recommended is to replicate this research in hospitals interviewing nurses, physicians, and patients.
