Arzu Bulut, Yaşar Demir
This study aimed to adapt the SOCOM Spiritual Fitness Scale into Turkish and evaluate its psychometric properties among healthcare professionals in Türkiye.
Spirituality and spiritual fitness are important protective resources for healthcare professionals because they may give meaning to clinical practice, support ethical decision-making, and strengthen psychological resilience. This study aimed to adapt the SOCOM Spiritual Fitness Scale into Turkish and evaluate its psychometric properties among healthcare professionals in Türkiye. This cross-sectional validation study was conducted with healthcare professionals in the Black Sea Region of Türkiye. Of the 500 survey forms distributed, 408 were returned, yielding a response rate of 81.6%. After excluding 18 forms that did not meet the inclusion criteria, the final analyses were conducted with data from 390 participants. The scale adaptation process included forward-backward translation and cognitive interviews in accordance with international adaptation standards. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the original three-factor structure and yielded acceptable-to-good fit indices (RMSEA = 0.066, CFI = 0.961). Internal consistency was high (Cronbach's α = 0.95), and convergent validity was supported by positive correlations with the meaning in life subdimensions. Measurement invariance analyses indicated equivalence across gender, age, and occupational groups. In conclusion, the SFS-HP appears to be a valid and reliable instrument for assessing spiritual fitness among healthcare professionals in Türkiye and for producing comparable scores across different subgroups.