Spiritual Connection Questionnaire (SCQ-48)

Primary use / Purpose:

The Spiritual Connection Questionnaire (SCQ-48) is a 48-item, uni-dimensional measure that assesses the experience of a “sense of connection” with: the universe, people, nature, and places.

Author of Tool:

Wheeler, P. and Hyland, M. E.

Key references:

Wheeler, P. and Hyland, M. E. (2008), The development of a scale to measure the experience of spiritual connection and the correlation between this experience and values. Spirituality Health, 9: 193–217. doi: 10.1002/shi.348

Spiritual Connection Questionnaire: SCQ-48

Below is a list of statements about the experience of spirituality. Please show to what extent these statements describe you by circling the number which best correspond to your experience. For example, if the statement is very like you, then circle 3. If it is only slightly like you, then circle 1. Do not spend to long over any statement. Just give the first answer that comes into your head. There are no right or wrong answers.

Unlike me -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 Like me

  • 1. Sometimes when I look at a person I feel a connection which is very special and different from usual human contact.
  • 2. For me, happiness is achieved from pleasure, not spiritual fulfilment
  • 3. I sometimes experience joy just from being in a beautiful place.
  • 4. I do not feel connected to the universe in any spiritual way.
  • 5. I am very sensitive to the atmosphere of a house.
  • 6. I never feel that I am making contact with someone’s soul.
  • 7. For me, spirituality gives me a feeling of ultimate happiness.
  • 8. I never feel any special connection with a part of nature such as a flower, tree or mountain.
  • 9. I can sometimes enter a state where I feel connected to the universe.
  • 10. For me, places do not have a special atmosphere.
  • 11. I am drawn to spiritual people.
  • 12. Spirituality is not important to me.
  • 13. For me, spirituality is a kind of love for everything.
  • 14. I do not have a personal relationship with some power greater than myself.
  • 15. I sometimes experience other people ‘shining with an inner light’.
  • 16. It is not important to me to be connected with a spiritual being or force.
    Unlike me -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 Like me
  • 17. I can sometimes feel love for living or non-living parts of nature (flowers, trees, stones, animals etc.).
  • 18. The physical world as we know it is all there is.
  • 19. There is something of the cosmos that binds all people together.
  • 20. Spirituality does not contribute to my life.
  • 21. I feel there is a form of energy that binds all life together.
  • 22. I feel no spiritual connection to the world around me.
  • 23. I have a deep feeling of being connected to my family both past and future.
  • 24. I have never had a spiritual experience that has changed my life.
  • 25. We are all participating in something larger and greater than any of us.
  • 26. I do not believe events in my life unfold according to a greater plan.
  • 27. I can sometimes feel a connection with those who are no longer with us.
  • 28. I am not much affected by my surroundings.
  • 29. I believe all life is connected.
  • 30. I will never have a spiritual bond with another person.
  • 31. I feel I have an inner spiritual strength.
  • 32. I am not touched spiritually by beauty.
  • 33. There is a larger plan to life.
  • 34. I find spiritually in others rather off-putting.
  • 35. My spirituality makes life good for me.
  • 36. I never get completely immersed in the beauty of my surroundings.
  • 37. For me all life is connected.
  • 38. I do not feel that there is a form of energy that binds people together.
  • 39. I have joy in my life because of my spirituality.
  • 40. The beauty of the universe fails to move me.
  • 41. I feel an inner strength from a spiritual connection with others.
  • 42. The cosmos (everything that exists) has only a physical dimension, not a spiritual one.
  • 43. My connection to something spiritual makes me happy.
  • 44. I have no sense of awareness of those who will come after me.
  • 45. I feel that I am always protected by an ultimate principle, force or being.
  • 46. I have no feeling of being connected with the spirit world.
  • 47. My feelings of a spiritual connection with the cosmos (everything that exists) are important to me.
  • 48. Spiritual connections with other people do not help me.

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