Daily Spiritual Experience Scale

The Daily Spiritual Experience Scale is a widely used instrument that quantifies the subjective experience of the transcendent. The concept of spirituality is defined here at the level of experience, so it is not tied to a specific religious orientation, and is therefore universally usable for measuring subjective spiritual experience. In the original version, the questionnaire consists of 16 short sentences that are rated on a six-point modified Likert scale (except for the last item, which has a four-point scale). In the Czech modification there are only 15 items (item 5 is omitted).

Length of filling

Completing the DSES takes approximately 5-10 minutes.

Individualized feedback for the respondent

By filling in the scale, the respondent gains awareness and intensity of his spiritual experience.

Keywords

DSES, spirituality, spiritual experience, spiritual experience, transcendence

Scoring and interpretation

To begin with, it is necessary to mention that the last item 16 is reversed and has the only four-point scale. The author presents several ways of scoring. The first option is to sum the scores of all items, including the reverse score of item 16 (total score between 16-94 points). It is also possible to use an average score, where the author recommends spreading the 4 points of item 16 into a six-point scale. The third possibility is to dichotomize the questions. High score values in the DSES counterintuitively correspond to a low intensity of spiritual experience, therefore the overall result can be reversed.

Response scale

Respondents answer items 1-15 on a six-point modified Likert scale (1 = many times a day, 2 = every day, 3 = most days, 4 = some days, 5 = sometimes, 6 = never). The last item 16 “How close to God do you feel overall?” has only 4 options on the scale (1 = not at all, 2 = quite close, 3 = very close, 4 = as close as possible).

References

Daily Spiritual Experience Scale. (2023). Retrieved February 22, 2023, from https://www.dsescale.org/

Maliňáková, K., Trnka, R., Šarníková, G., Smékal, V., Fürstová, J., & Tavel, P. (2018). Psychometrická analýza škály každodenní spirituální zkušenosti (DSES) v českém prostředí. Československá psychologie, 62(Supplement 1), 100-113. https://www.academia.edu/42034876/Psychometrick%C3%A1_anal%C3%BDza_%C5%A1k%C3%A1ly_ka%C5%BEdodenn%C3%AD_spiritu%C3%A1ln%C3%AD_zku%C5%A1enosti_DSES_v_%C4%8Desk%C3%A9m_prost%C5%99ed%C3%AD

Underwood, L. (2006). Ordinary Spiritual Experience: Qualitative Research, Interpretive Guidelines, and Population Distribution for the Daily Spiritual Experience Scale. Psychology of Religion, 28(1), 181-218. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1163/008467206777832562

Underwood, L., & Teresi, J. (2002). The daily spiritual experience scale: development, theoretical description, reliability, exploratory factor analysis, and preliminary construct validity using health-related data. Ann Behav Med, 24(1), 22-33. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15324796ABM2401_04