An Integrative Review of Measures of Spirituality in Experimental Studies of Psilocybin in Serious Illness Populations

Jan 5, 2023The American journal of hospice & palliative care

Overview of Spirituality Measures in Psilocybin Studies with Seriously Ill Patients

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Abstract

Seven articles on psilocybin-assisted therapies identified 12 unique instruments measuring spirituality.

The most frequently used instruments were the Mystical Experience Questionnaire, the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spirituality, and the Demoralization Scale, each appearing in multiple studies.
While spirituality is recognized as significant in psilocybin-assisted therapies, there was considerable variability in the types of measures used across studies.
Studies often lacked consistent definitions and contextualizations of spirituality domains and subdomains.
The diversity of spirituality measures may limit the clarity and replicability of findings related to therapeutic outcomes in this area.
Refining measures of spirituality could enhance their utility, reduce participant burden, and improve the contextualization of spirituality-related findings.

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Psilocybin-assisted therapies (PAT) are reemerging as a treatment for complex distress often prompting mystical experiences, enhanced meaning, and spiritual wellbeing. We sought to investigate how measures of spirituality are employed in experimental studies of PAT conducted with seriously ill adults.We included experimental studies of psilocybin conducted with seriously ill adults, which employed measures that contained spirituality and mysticism concepts within their domains or subdomains. Included studies were peer-reviewed and published in English language (up to December 2021).Seven articles met our inclusion criteria. A total of 12 unique instruments were identified. The most frequently used instruments were the Mystical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ30), the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spirituality (FACIT-Sp-12), and the Demoralization Scale (DS-I/II) (used in four studies each), followed by the Persisting Effects Questionnaire (PEQ) (used in three studies). Overall, studies did not consistently define and contextualize spirituality domains and subdomains studied.Despite well-recognized significance of spirituality in PAT, there was considerable heterogeneity in number and types of spirituality measures employed across studies. There also seemed a lack of attention to defining and operationalizing spirituality and its domains and subdomains. This is notable as spirituality and overlapping concepts (eg mystical experiences) contributes substantially to this body of research and patients' therapeutic outcomes. Towards developing more rigorous science of spirituality in PAT research, there is a critical need to evaluate and refine measures of spirituality to enhance their utility and replicability, limit participant burden, and better contextualize spirituality-related findings and outcomes. Background: Methods: Results: Conclusions:

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An Integrative Review of Measures of Spirituality in Experimental Studies of Psilocybin in Serious Illness Populations

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