Desenvolvimento e validação do índice de religiosidade intrínseca : correlações com saúde mental e qualidade de vida

Abstract

OBJECTIVE. Religiousness is present in mankind regardless of period or place. In Brazil, 95% of the population said to have religion. Since the entrance of scientific methodology in the field, religiousness, in mental health, has been increasingly investigated. Nowadays, is well known that religiousness, in many ways, acts as a buffer in mental and physical health. The present study employed psychometric science to develop and validate a brief instrument to assess intrinsic religiousness (Intrinsic Religiousness Inventory - IRI) in two Brazilian samples and to correlate with mental health and quality of life measures. METHOD. The initial version (14 items) was based on literature review and experts suggestion. University students (sample 1; n=323) and psychiatric patients (sample 2; n=102) filled the following instruments: IRI, the Duke Religiosity Index (DUREL), a spirituality measure (WHOQOL-SRPB), a quality of life measure (WHOQOL-BREF) as well as measures of anxiety and depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory - BDI, Beck Anxiety Inventory - BAI and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale - HADS). RESULTS. The IRI showed adequate internal consistency reliability in sample 1 (Cronbach’s α = 0.96; 95% CI; 0.87-0.98) and sample 2 (α = 0.96; 95% CI; 0.85-0.99). Principal component analyses with varimax rotation of the IRI indicated a single factor, which explained 73.7% and 74.9% of variance in samples 1 and 2, respectively, after the exclusion of items with small factor loadings. Strong correlations between the IRI and the intrinsic subscale of the DUREL were observed (Spearman’s r ranging from 0.87 to 0.73 in samples 1 and 2, respectively, p<0.001). The IRI had good test-retest reliability in both samples (intraclass correlation coefficients > 0.70). DISCUSSION. The IRI showed good psychometrical properties. Significantly associations were observed between intrinsic religiousness and depression symptoms and quality of life measures in the student sample, as well as significantly associations between intrinsic religiousness and depression and anxiety symptoms measures in the psychiatric sample. CONCLUSION. These data indicate that the IRI is a valid instrument and may contribute to study intrinsic religiosity in Brazilian samples.