OBJECTIVE: This study determined the psychometric properties of the Arabic Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-being (FACIT-Sp) Version 4 and explored associations between its three factors (Peace, Meaning, and Faith) and health-related quality of life (HrQoL) among Arab patients with cancer. METHODS: A total of 205 Arabic-speaking, study-eligible cancer patients who were in treatment at the King Hussein Cancer Center, Amman, Jordan, completed the FACIT-Sp scale. RESULTS: Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficients suggest that the Arabic FACIT-Sp is reliable and that moderate to strong correlations among subscales suggest validity. Correlation analyses showed that the 12-item Spiritual Well-being scale was associated with Social (r = 0.45, p = 0.01) and Functional Well-being (r = 0.48, p = 0.01). Hierarchical multiple regressions revealed that the Peace factor added 7.5% and the Meaning factor 3.8% to the prediction of HrQoL (p < 0.001). Faith did not significantly contribute to the unique prediction of HrQoL. Correlation analyses revealed that Peace was most prominently associated with the HrQoL subscale of Functional Well-being (r = 0.53, p = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: This first study of Arabic-speaking, predominantly Muslim Jordanian cancer patients using the FACIT-Sp indicates that it is a psychometrically sound instrument for detailed assessment of the spiritual well-being of Arabic-speaking cancer patients. The three-factor model appears to allow for discrimination among factors that are most highly associated with different aspects of HrQoL.

Lazenby, M., et al., Psychometric properties of the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy--Spiritual Well-being (FACIT-Sp) in an Arabic-speaking, predominantly Muslim population. Psychooncology, 2013. 22(1): p. 220-7.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21957056