Your spirituality is part of your total health and well-being. Now there’s an important tool that can track your spiritual health to help keep you mission-ready and resilient.
While functional-medicine and whole-health initiatives typically include spirituality as a component of total health and well-being, they often lack meaningful, validated metrics that can track movement in spiritual health over time. For this reason, CHAMP’s Spirituality & Performance Research team developed and validated the two subscales that make up the Spirituality Metric for Total Health (SMTH).The tool helps wellness professionals and Service Members measure both “vertical” and “horizontal” aspects of spiritual health and bridge across the work of continuous self-assessment, program evaluation, and tailored coaching for optimized health and well-being. You can use the SMTH subscales—Pursuing Meaning, Purpose, and Value (PMPV) and Service and Sacrifice for the Greater Good (SSGG)—to help assess your own spiritual fitness and reflect on ways you’d like to grow and set goals.
Pursuing Meaning, Purpose, and Value (PMPV) subscale
The PMPV subscale includes some questions below that can help you assess “vertical” spiritual health. It focuses on your ability to recognize, know, continually align with, and develop core beliefs, highest principles, and ultimate values. PMPV isn’t intended as an approach for determining “right belief.” Instead, it measures commitment to the highest ideals you hold—and can track changes to that commitment. A high PMPV score connects with having meaning in life, better quality of life, and resilience.
- I know what my life is about.
- Strongly Agree [6]
- Agree [5]
- Somewhat Agree [4]
- Neutral [3]
- Somewhat Disagree [2]
- Disagree [1]
- Strongly Disagree [0]
- I have been able to find a sense of meaning in my life.
- Strongly Agree [6]
- Agree [5]
- Somewhat Agree [4]
- Neutral [3]
- Somewhat Disagree [2]
- Disagree [1]
- Strongly Disagree [0]
- Looking at my life as a whole, things seem clear to me.
- Strongly Agree [6]
- Agree [5]
- Somewhat Agree [4]
- Neutral [3]
- Somewhat Disagree [2]
- Disagree [1]
- Strongly Disagree [0]
- I have a core of beliefs, ethics, and values that give my life a sense of meaning and purpose.
- Strongly Agree [6]
- Agree [5]
- Somewhat Agree [4]
- Neutral [3]
- Somewhat Disagree [2]
- Disagree [1]
- Strongly Disagree [0]
- I am able to find meaning and purpose in my everyday experiences.
- Strongly Agree [6]
- Agree [5]
- Somewhat Agree [4]
- Neutral [3]
- Somewhat Disagree [2]
- Disagree [1]
- Strongly Disagree [0]
If you’re interested in goal-setting to either build or maintain your PMVP, it’s important to help identify and reflect on your own core values. Use HPRC’s tips to build your spiritual fitness and align with and practice your values daily.
Service and Sacrifice for the Greater Good (SSGG) subscale
The SSGG subscale includes some questions below that measure “horizontal” spiritual health, which is sometimes called altruistic spirituality or humanistic spirituality. SSGG helps assess your commitment to service and sacrifice for others, which begins with close relationships and extends outwards to your neighborhood, community, society, and the world.
- Respecting and valuing human life should be the greatest social value.
- Strongly Agree [6]
- Agree [5]
- Somewhat Agree [4]
- Neutral [3]
- Somewhat Disagree [2]
- Disagree [1]
- Strongly Disagree [0]
- I believe strongly in people and the power of service.
- Strongly Agree [6]
- Agree [5]
- Somewhat Agree [4]
- Neutral [3]
- Somewhat Disagree [2]
- Disagree [1]
- Strongly Disagree [0]
- 3. I often think about a “grand plan” or process that human beings are a part of.
- Strongly Agree [6]
- Agree [5]
- Somewhat Agree [4]
- Neutral [3]
- Somewhat Disagree [2]
- Disagree [1]
- Strongly Disagree [0]
- My highest moral responsibility is doing the greatest amount of good I can for other human beings.
- Strongly Agree [6]
- Agree [5]
- Somewhat Agree [4]
- Neutral [3]
- Somewhat Disagree [2]
- Disagree [1]
- Strongly Disagree [0]
- Being of service to others is an important source of meaning in my life.
- Strongly Agree [6]
- Agree [5]
- Somewhat Agree [4]
- Neutral [3]
- Somewhat Disagree [2]
- Disagree [1]
- Strongly Disagree [0]
Read HPRC’s article on counting your blessings to improve performance to learn more about noticing the good in others and what can get in the way of seeing the good you do for others. Also, use HPRC’s gratitude calendar to help you notice the blessings you’ve received from others, show gratitude, and pay it forward to better serve the greater good.
Scoring your results
When administering (or self-administering) the SMWH, the PMPV and SSGG subscale items can be combined and randomized. It’s a good idea to average PMPV and SSGG items separately, however, even if you later average them both for a combined average. The easiest way to score the subscales is to code your responses so that strongly agree = 6, agree = 5, somewhat agree = 4, neutral = 3, somewhat disagree = 2, disagree = 1, and strongly disagree = 0.
Learn more
Visit HPRC’s Spiritual Fitness page for more tips to help build your spiritual fitness and resilience.