以佛法為基礎的老年人無限生命與業果信念量表編製及宗教相關變項之初探

Development of Two Scales for Edlers Based on Buddha Dharma (the Belief in Infinite Lives Scale and the Belief in Karma Scale) and the Relation of these Scales to Religiosity Variables

研究目的：老年人的心理福祉與靈性健康是當今社會頗為關注的議題，然其相關的測驗工具卻頗為稀少。本研究旨在發展具有信效度之「以佛法為基礎的老年人的無限生命與業果信念量表」，以瞭解老年人無限生命與業果信念的相信程度，並探究不同宗教背景變項之間的差異。研究方法：量表題目的編製係根據廣論及日常法師論述內容，並經過五位專家檢核以確保量表的內容效度。本研究以臺灣417位老年人為樣本，進行探索性因素分析、獨立樣本t考驗、獨立樣本單因子變異數分析與效標關聯效度分析。研究結果：「無限生命量表」有4題，累積解釋變異量為79.497%，內部一致性信度為.934；與「本土化大學生來生信念量表」的「確信其有」相關係數為.740。「業果信念量表」有11題，累積解釋變異量為57.209%，內部一致性信度為.934；與「本土化大學生來生信念量表」的「因果報應」相關係數為.709。不同宗教信仰、虔誠度、參與宗教頻率、宗教自修次數、參加佛學課程年數的老年人在無限生命與業果信念上的確有顯著差異。研究結論：本研究所編製的「無限生命量表」和「業果信念量表」具有可接受的探索性信度與效度，可應用於老年人對生死議題的認識與理解。根據量表的內涵，未來可探討其與韌性、希望感和心理健康等變項之間的關聯，以瞭解老年人之靈性健康。

Purpose: The psychological well-being and spiritual health of elderly people in Taiwan are important, but there are few ways to measure them. In this study, we developed 2 scales to measure elderly people’s belief in the buddhist dharma concepts of infinite lives and karma, and then explored the differences in religiosity variables in these scales. Methods: A total of 417 participants over age 65 completed the initial questionairre based on items developed from Lamrim Chenmo and Ri-Chang’s transcripts. We used exploratory factor analysis, independent-sample t-tests, and a one-way ANOVA to establish the validity and reliability of the new scales. Results: The belief in infinite lives scale has 4 items and accounts for 79.5% of the total variance, with a Cronbach’s α of .93. It has correlation of .74 with certainty on the native afterlife beliefs scale for undergraduates. The belief in karma scale has 11 items that account for 57.2% of the total variance, with a Cronbach’s α of .93. It has correlation of .71 with karma on the native afterlife beliefs scale for undergraduates. The religioity variables (length of involvement in the religion, possession of different religious beliefs, degree of piety, frequency of devotion to and cultivation of the religion, and number of years of participating in Buddhist classes) all had a signicant impact on elders’ beliefs in infinite lives and karma. Conclusion: Both scales showed acceptable reliability and validity. They may be applicable for exploring issues related to life and death for the elderly, especially in regard to resilience, sense of hope, and other mental varibles that correspond to spiritual health.