‘Non-duality’ and ‘Reliance’ are the ‘regression refined principal components’ that influences ‘spirituality’ in ‘Indian Saints’.

Background: Quantifying spirituality is a tough ordeal and pretty intricate considering its multidimensional nature. Religion and culture are its top exponents. An evaluating tool must envisage them as core components. A tool to measure spirituality by incorporating Hindu philosophy was hard to find. Thus, we choose the commonly studied SAI (Spiritual Assessment Inventory) questionnaire and attempted to extract refined components with significant predicting potentials which can pave the path for spiritual assessment among Indian Saints.Results: The legitimate KMO and Bartlett's Test of significance of SAI for 1103 participants were .878 and 0.000; its Cronbach’s α was .810. Extracted Communalities for all 54 items of SAI ranged from .404 to .709. PCA (Principal Component Analysis) analysed 1097 participants that yielded 2 Principal Components (PCs)having a total of 7 variables; 3 for PC 1 and 4 for PC 2. The PCs thus derived explained 59.48% of the total variance of the participant’s spiritual score. The PCA for the two extracted components reported a Cronbach's α value of .69, the KMO and Bartlett's Test of significance of .748 and 0.000, and a linear regression R2 value at .605, F .000 and sig. f change .000. Standardized Beta for extracted component variables ranged from.10 to .28 with a significance value of .000. Both the PCs had corresponding Eigenvalues > 1. The corresponding Monte Carlo PCA test of parallel lines Eigenvalues was calculated to cross-check the PCA Eigen figure for their validity. The PCA Eigen figure was found tenable after cross-checking.Conclusion: PC 1 with its 3 variables was named ‘Reliance’ and PC 2 with 4 variables were ‘Non-duality’ named. These two PCs accounted for to 59.48%of spirituality in Indian saints and demonstrated a strong positive prediction potential concerning spiritual scores (regression R2 .605) in Indian Saints.

The Role of Spiritual Development in the Cross-Cultural Reentry Adjustment of Missionaries

This study investigated the relationship between spiritual development and cultural reentry adjustment in a group of missionaries. One hundred and two missionaries completed a questionnaire that correlated the Spiritual Assessment Inventory (SAI) with five cultural adaptation and transition scales. The study found significant relationship between the Reentry Distress Scale and the SAI Disappointment and Instability scales. There was also a significant relationship between the SAI Awareness scale and the Transition Change Scale. The study also explored the relationship between reentry distress and calling, regularly practicing spiritual disciplines, and returning home to a supportive community. The implications of the study are discussed in relation to missionaries, mission agencies, and local churches in order to provide meaningful care for missionaries during cross-cultural transitions.

The Initial Development and Factor Analysis of the Spiritual Assessment Inventory

The present article reports the development and factor analyses of a new, theoretically-based measure of spiritual maturity viewed from a Judeo-Christian perspective and designed for clinical use by pastoral counselors and psychotherapists, as well as researchers. The Spiritual Assessment Inventory (SAI) is based on a model of spiritual maturity that integrates relational maturity from an object relations perspective and experiential God-awareness based on New Testament teaching and contemplative spirituality principles. A pool of items was developed to measure two hypothesized dimensions of spiritual maturity: awareness of God and quality of relationship with God. Two factor analytic construct validity studies were conducted. Based on the first study, the SAI was revised and expanded. In the second study, five factors were identified: Awareness, Instability, Grandiosity, Realistic Acceptance, and Defensiveness/Disappointment. The results of the factor analyses and correlations of the factors with the Bell Object Relations Inventory support the underlying theory and validity of the SAI and its potential usefulness for clinical assessment and research.