Introducing the Francis Indices of Perceived Spiritual Health Change (FISHCh): a study among theists and atheists

This study introduces a new measure of perceived change in spiritual health, rooted in the Fisher tradition, but designed specifically to assess the perceived impact on spiritual health of an experience or intervention, alongside other psychological measures, among a mixed constituency of theists and atheists. Data provided by 874 participants at two Christmas Eve carol services distinguished between two factors proposed as Index of Perceived Existential Spiritual Health Change (combining the personal, communal, and environmental domains) and Index of Perceived Religious Spiritual Health Change (reflecting the transcendental domain). Construct validity for distinguishing between these two factors was supported by regression models identifying different predictors for individual differences in the two indices.