The aim of the study was to develop and psychometrically evaluate the Chinese Spiritual Coping Scale. The items in the questionnaire were written according to the study's theoretical conception and literature research. A sample of 415 participants with or without religious beliefs was used for exploratory factor analyses to select the items. In addition, another sample of 207 participants was used to cross-validate the factor structure and examine the internal consistency. The results supported the four-factor structure of the Chinese Spiritual Coping Scale (17 items, four dimensions: Mystical Experience, Moral Practice, Meaning Exploration, and Transcendent Attitude). The analyses demonstrated adequate internal consistency and construct validity. The overall psychometric evaluation of the Spiritual Coping Scale suggested that this could be a promising measure of spiritual coping for Chinese individuals.
Keywords: Instrument development; Reliability; Religious belief; Spiritual coping; Validity.