The influence of spiritual development on counselor beliefs about the role of religion and spirituality in counseling

Interest in the integration of religion and spirituality in counseling has increased discussion about the importance of counselor competence and practice related to this area. A review of the literature reveals that counselor religious or spiritual orientation influences the practice of psychotherapy; however, few studies exist that explore the influence of spiritual development on counselors' beliefs. This study was conducted in two phases. The purpose of Phase 1 was to explore the psychometric properties of the Common Way Faith scale, the Role of Religion and Spirituality scale, and the Religious and Spiritually Sensitive Intervention Questionnaire. The purpose of Phase 2 was to explore the influence of beliefs about the role of religion and spirituality in practice on the relationship between the spiritual development of counselors' in training and use of spiritual intervention. Stages of spiritual development were measured by the Intentional Faith Scale (Clore, 1997). Beliefs about the role of religion and spirituality was measured by the Role of Religion and Spirituality in Practice scale (Sheridan, 1994), and the revised Religious and Spiritually Sensitive Intervention Questionnaire (Quattlebaum's, 2002) was used to measure use of intervention. Phase 1 and Phase 2 informed the present research results.

Two hundred and twenty-five masters' level counselors in training, at a university in south Texas, were surveyed. In Phase 1, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was used to examine the validity of Common Way Faith scale (a subscale of the IFS), the RRSP scale, and the RSSIQ scale. Results indicated adjustments to each scale improved both reliability and validity. Modifications to each scale were retained and use in succeeding analysis in Phase 2.

In Phase 2, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was used to test the measurement model and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to test the structural model. The structural model was designed to test the mediating effects of Beliefs on the relationship between states of spiritual development and use of spiritual intervention. CFA results for the measurement model indicated a high correlation between two stages of faith (Common Way Faith and Thoughtful Way Faith). Because such a high correlation might indicate issues related to collinearity, Thoughtful Way Faith was dropped from succeeding analysis. SEM showed that beliefs about the role of religion and spirituality in counseling did operate as a mediator in the stages of spiritual development-use of spiritual intervention relation.