SUPPORTING STATEMENT - PART A
Preservation of the Force and Family (POTFF) Spiritual Fitness Metrics – 0720-XXXX
1. Need for the Information Collection
The Department of Defense includes Spiritual Fitness as one of the domains in the Total Force Fitness (TFF) Framework. This framework is a methodology for understanding, assessing, and maintaining Service Members' well-being and sustaining their ability to carry out missions. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Instruction (CJCSI) definition is, “Spiritual Fitness refers to the ability to adhere to beliefs, principles, or values needed to persevere and prevail in accomplishing missions” (CJCSI 3405.01, A-2, provided separately as Appendix A). The CJCSI definition of Spiritual Fitness encompasses two categories: 1) vertical - spiritual connection between self and higher power(s), and 2) horizontal - spiritual connection between self and others. Spiritual Fitness does not require any degree of religiosity or belief in the supernatural, rather is it about maintaining one’s integrity, sense of meaning, and being a part of something greater than one’s self. Studies have shown that spirituality in general is a significant motivating force, a source of growth, a means of achieving human flourishing, and a vital resource for resilience (Hufford, Fritts, & Rhodes, 2010; Pargament & Sweeney, 2011; Yeung & Margret, 2013). The chaplaincy provides support for Spiritual Fitness. Chaplains need metrics to distinguish the effect of their programs on religious, spiritual but non-religious, and neither spiritual nor religious populations. Although there have been prior attempts to create measures of Spiritual Fitness (Hammer, Cragun, & Hwang, 2013; Pargament & Sweeney, 2011; Wilcove & Schwerin, 2002), existing measures focused on either horizontal or vertical spirituality rather than on a broader CJCSI Spiritual Fitness definition. Our approach is inclusive and holistic.
A validated measure of Spiritual Fitness allows US Special Operations Command’s (USSOCOM) program to evaluate the Preservation of the Force and Family’s (POTFF) Spiritual Performance Programs and chaplaincy programs on both horizontal and vertical spirituality. Chaplaincy can then assess the extent to which special operations forces (SOF) Spiritual Fitness needs are met. The validated measure of Spiritual Fitness may be used to:
Assess a person’s understanding of Spiritual Fitness
Evaluate the outcomes of POTFF’s Spiritual Performance Programs
Refine chaplaincy training, methods, and programs to enhance Spiritual Fitness
The authorities that authorize this data collection are: Title 10 (Armed Forces) United States Code (USC), Sections 3073 (Chaplains), 3547 (Duties: chaplains, assistance required of commanding officers), 5142 (Chaplain Corps and Chief of Chaplains), and 8067 (Air Force Chaplains); CJCSI 3405.01 Chairman's TFF Framework current as of 23 Sep 2013 and Joint Publication 1-05 Religious Affairs in Joint Operations of 20 November 2013. Title 10 provides for the appointment of officers as chaplains in the Army, Navy, and Air Force. CJCSI 3405.01 Chairman's TTF Framework implements Title 10 by providing doctrine for religious affairs in joint operations and the chaplain’s roles as the principal advisor to the joint force commander on religious affairs. Joint Publication 1-05 Religious Affairs in Joint Operations implements Title 10 by providing doctrine for religious affairs in joint operations and guidance on implementing Spiritual Fitness as it related to resiliency of the individual Service Member.
2. Use of the Information
The information collected will be used to validate a metric of Spiritual Fitness. Although the validated metric of Spiritual Fitness will be used by Military Service Members, this is a hard to reach population, and development will be done outside of the military. Validation with Military Service Members will be done using the developed metric of Spiritual Fitness. To accomplish developing and validating a metric of Spiritual Fitness, public respondents will first be recruited using Internet samples drawn from mTurk, a crowd-sourcing Internet marketplace. Responses from mTurk will be used in an iterative sampling fashion to aid in the initial development of the new Spiritual Fitness metric. Once the initial metric has been developed and validated in the mTurk population, the online sampling platform, Qualtrics, will collect responses from a demographically representative sample. This sample enables further validation of the metric.
Individuals from mTurk and Qualtrics will provide anonymized responses on Spiritual Fitness experimental test items and indicators of Spiritual Fitness outcomes. These responses will be used to develop and validate a holistic metric of Spiritual Fitness. Any individual can use the validated metric to determine their Spiritual Fitness profile. This profile is based on their personal values, beliefs, and sources of meaning in life.
The collection instrument is an electronic survey housed on the secure servers of the Qualtrics online survey platform. The Qualtrics survey platform has the technical features needed to implement both skip logic and branching logic. Furthermore, we will use the Qualtrics settings to ensure that no identifying information is collected (i.e., there will be absolutely no collection of: IP address, mTurk respondent information, GPS coordinates, or contact information). These features allow the collection of a completely anonymous and de-identified data set. Qualtrics is a means for survey features, such as skip logic and ensuring no identifying information is collected. We will use Qualtrics to collect responses from a demographically representative sample.
The data collection survey is constructed by pulling items from item pools. The item pools include demographic information, outcomes indicators, and the potential Spiritual Fitness test items. All item pools are cataloged in Appendix C (provided separately). The fixed total number of items per survey will not exceed what is reported in Appendix D (provided separately). The survey will take about 20 minutes to complete. Individual items are chosen from the test pool in order to build each survey. Dynamic items in Appendix C (provided separately) will be swapped out with other Spiritual Fitness outcome items as development progresses and experimental Spiritual Fitness items are removed. Respondents will complete the same demographic and outcomes indicators, and some subset of the test pool items. See Appendix E (provided separately) for a mock-up of a sample survey with skip logic. Appendix F (provided separately) represents the item reduction process during the course of data collection.
Respondents will access the collection instrument via a hyperlink that directs them to the survey housed within the Qualtrics survey system. In the mTurk samples, information about the collection instrument, compensation information, and the hyperlink is posted on the mTurk job list. Disclosures a provided as part of the job solicitation. The requirements for our proposed study is that the individual is in the United States and is at least 18 years old. These requirements are set as part of the visibility options in mTurk. If a respondent meets these criteria, the job post is visible to them, if not, the job post is not visible. Once a respondent agrees to perform the job, the hyperlink directs them to Qualtrics to complete the survey. There are no associated invitations or communications sent to respondents. Respondents are paid as contractors, and Amazon processes the payment once the survey is completed.
Qualtrics will conduct a demographically representative sampling with individuals who complete sets of on-line surveys for Qualtrics each month for compensation. The information collected will be used to provide national averages that can be used as benchmarks of Spiritual Fitness. Qualtrics will provide a link to the data collection instrument that contains: the retained Spiritual Fitness test items, demographic questions, and related Spiritual Fitness outcomes. In both samples, respondents return the responses by completing the data collection instrument, which automatically records the responses on the Qualtrics secured server. The completed collection instrument will be handled by personnel in the Uniformed Services University’s Consortium for Health and Military Performance. The result of the data collection will be a validated metric of Spiritual Fitness that can be used to evaluate the outcomes of POTFF’s Spiritual Performance Programs, and refine chaplaincy training, methods, and programs related to vertical and horizontal spirituality.
3. Use of Information Technology
One hundred percent of the responses are collected electronically through either mTurk or Qualtrics. The survey will be housed on the Qualtrics electronic survey platform. Once data collection has completed, the de-identified data will be removed from the secure Qualtrics servers and stored on an encrypted and secure government hard-drive that will remain in a secure office that can be accessed by the PI, project manager, and authorized study personnel.
4. Non-duplication
The information obtained through this repeated sampling is unique and is not already available for use or adaptation from another source. The CJCSI 3405.01 definition of spiritual fitness is unique, and only partially overlaps with previous conceptualizations of spirituality and religiosity. Therefore, for this project, we comprehensively examined previous research, and compiled a list of publicly available and validated measures which can help inform the formation and validation of our survey items. These measures include: PEW, Duke University Religion Index - modified, Revised God Image, God as an Impersonal Force, 9-item Attachment to God, Circumplex Religious Orientation Inventory (core belief, principle or value version), NonReligious-NonSpiritual Scale, Brief Multidimensional Measure of Religiosity/Spirituality, Spiritual Interest Scale, Views of Suffering Scale, Belief in Action (Judeo-Christian version), Gratitude Toward God Questionnaire, Attitude Toward God Questionnaire - Centrality Measures, The Multidimensional Existential Meaning Scale, Core Beliefs Scale, Meaning in Life Questionnaire; Post Critical Beliefs Scale, Systems of Belief Inventory, Spiritual Fitness Inventory, Revised Spiritual Fitness Scale, Spiritual Intelligence Self-Report Inventory, Scale for Existential Thinking, Spiritual Meaning Scale, Religious and Spiritual Struggles Scale, Spiritual Distress Screen, Brief COPE, SOCOM Combat Exposure, Stressful Event Nomination, Stress Related Growth Scale Revised, Global Meaning Validations Scale, Event Related Rumination Inventory; Integration of Stressful Life Experiences Scale, Spiritual Meaning Scale, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support; WRAIR Unit Cohesion Scales, Personal Need for Structure Scale, Personal Fear of Invalidity Scale, Need for (Cognitive) Closure Scale, Acceptance and Action Questionnaire II, and Cognitive Flexibility Scale. The outcome items come from the following instruments: Meaning in Life Questionnaire, Brief Resiliency Scale, PTSD Checklist for the DSM5, Pittsburgh Insomnia Rating Scale, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Patient Health Questionnaire 2, The Friendship Scale, Single Item Self-Esteem, Life Orientation Test – Revised, Single Item Happiness, The Gratitude Questionnaire – 6 item, Code of Honor, Heartland Forgiveness Scale, Positive Relations with Others Subscale, Brief Family Relationships Scale, Perceived Stress Scale, AUDIT, Somatic Symptom Scale – 8, Loneliness Scale, WHOQoL Spirituality Religion and Personal Beliefs, Satisfaction with Life Scale, Single Item Satisfaction with Life Scale, Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire, Herth Hope Index, Hope Scale (Pathways and IPIP, Virtues Scales, Relationship Structures (ECR-RS) Questionnaire, Relationship Assessment, Couples Satisfaction Index, Loyola Generativity Scale, GAT Spiritual Fitness Items, and Marlow-Crowne Social Desirability Scale. Whenever available, the validity and reliability information for each instrument was reviewed.
5. Burden on Small Businesses
This information collection does not impose a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small businesses or entities.
6. Less Frequent Collection
Respondents will only complete the data collection instrument once, so the frequency of “on occasion” was indicated on the Federal Registry Notice. To minimize participant burden, a planned missing data design is utilized. Planned missing data design allows for a randomized subset of questions to be pulled from a larger pool of items, creating a subset of the tailored survey given to each participant. This reduces participant burden because no one individual receives every item in the test pool. Across all the responses, there will be enough data to determine which items are more strongly related to Spiritual Fitness outcomes at the group level. Through data reduction techniques, items that are not strongly related to the outcomes will be removed, further reducing the number of potential items from the test pool.
Due to the sheer number of instruments needed for this process, we need multiple samples to fit in all the comparisons that are needed. If there is only one survey, it will be extremely long, which will place undue burden and result in increased fatigue in respondents, which leads to less usable data.
The first nine samples of mTurk are imperative to complete a valid factor analysis. This will show that the selected items are consistently reliable. The selected items must be assessed to ensure that the results do not apply only to one group of individuals. The selected items need to be assessed multiple times to determine how well the items relate to one another. Readability will be assessed to make sure that the selected items are clear to individuals.
Selected items will be tested for their relationships with several psychological wellbeing and behavioral health items for construct validity. This will demonstrate how the newly developed measure is associated with existing research across multiple disciplines.
The resulting validated measure will be tested using a completely different sample through Qualtrics. Spirituality benchmarks from the PEW will be used to determine how representative the Qualtrics panel is of most Americans along religious grounds. This sample will be stratified and representative of a diverse population. An additional stratified and representative sample may be necessary if the first results for the newly developed measure do not confirm the item relationships and groupings.
7. Paperwork Reduction Act Guidelines
This collection of information does not require collection to be conducted in a manner inconsistent with the guidelines delineated in 5 CFR 1320.5(d)(2).
8. Consultation and Public Comments
Part A: PUBLIC NOTICE
A 60-Day Federal Register Notice for the collection published on Thursday, December 13, 2018. The 60-Day FRN citation is 83 FRN 64118.
No comments were received during the 60-Day Comment Period
A 30-Day Federal Register Notice for the collection published on Wednesday, February 20, 2019. The 30-Day FRN citation is 84 FRN 5060.
Part B: CONSULTATION
No additional consultation apart from soliciting public comments through the 60-Day Federal Register Noticed will be conducted for this submission.
9. Gifts or Payment
Payments or gifts are being offered to respondents by mTurk and Qualtrics as an incentive to participate in the collection. Participants recruited through mTurk are compensated at $0.12 per minutes (assuming 20 minutes per survey), for a flat rate of $2.42. Respondents are paid for their time based on the hourly wage ($7.25) as noted on https://www.dol.gov/whd/minimumwage.htm. This number was multiplied by .334 for an approximation of time spent on responding to the survey, resulting in a flat rate compensation of $2.42.
Participants recruited through Qualtrics are compensated proportionally, but the cost the government pays for each completed survey for a General Population sample with 3 designated characteristics (Age, Gender, Head of Household Income) is approximately $6. The demographically representative sampling done by Qualtrics is more expensive compared to mTurk.
10. Confidentiality
This study does not collect mTurk identification information so there is no way to associate the survey results with an individual. There will be no collection of any identifying information, such as: worker IDs, geographical locations, IP addresses, names, or other contact information. The Qualtrics survey will be anonymized so there is no way to associate the survey results with an individual.
A Privacy Act Statement (PAS) is not required for this collection since there is no collection of any identifying information, as determined by the Defense Health Agency (DHA) Privacy and Civil Liberties Office. A Privacy Advisory statement has been included in the informed consent notice.
A System of Record Notice (SORN) is not required for this collection because there are no personal identifiers that will be collected and the responses collected are not considered a record per the United States Office of Personnel Management’s SORN Guide.
A Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) is not required for this collection as it is not a system but a single survey. A PIA is not required for a single survey.
Records Retention and Disposition:
Records will be maintained in accordance with the following approved schedule:
• Subject: Quality Assurance Studies and Analyses of Healthcare Quality.
• Description: Studies and evaluations on a "when required" basis, not resulting in issuance of new standards.
• Disposition: Destroy when 5 years old.
• OSD RCS Series #: 905-02.2
• NARA Authority: NC1-330-77-5
11. Sensitive Questions
We are developing a measure to assess Spiritual Fitness so that we can support Title 10 freedom of expression of religious preference. This study focuses on Religiousness, Spirituality, and meaning-making. Depending on branching logic, participants will see questions asking about personal belief systems that may include religious beliefs. Participants may choose to not disclose responses associated with combat exposure or stressful life events in the study context of Spiritual Fitness and resiliency. We also ask questions about race and ethnicity for descriptive information pertaining to the sample. No respondent is required to answer any question if they do not feel comfortable or are unable to talk about it for legal reasons.
12. Respondent Burden and its Labor Costs
a. Estimation of Respondent Burden
Preservation of the Force and Family (POTFF) Spiritual Fitness Metrics
Total Number of Respondents: 8,012
Number of Responses Per Respondent: 1
Number of Total Annual Responses: 8,012
Response Time: 20 minutes
Respondent Burden Hours: 2,670
2. Submission Burden
a. Total Number of Respondents: 8,012
b. Total Number of Annual Responses: 8,012
c. Total Respondent Burden Hours: 2,670
b. Labor Cost of Respondent Burden
The Respondent hourly wage ($7.25) for the mTurk sampling, for 6,052 respondents, was determined by using the https://www.dol.gov/whd/minimumwage.htm.
1. Preservation of the Force and Family (POTFF) Spiritual Fitness Metrics
Number of Total Annual Responses: 8,012
Response Time: 20 minutes
Respondent Hourly Wage: $7.25
Labor Burden Per Response: $3.46*
Total Labor Burden: $27,721.52
* For Qualtrics, the cost associated is $6.00 per response for 1,960 respondents. This results in a cost for the Qualtrics sample of approximately $12,000. To reflect the potential average labor burden for the entire 8,012 respondents, the $12,000 was divided by the total number of respondents (8,012) to get a rate of $1.54. This additional $1.54 was added to the mTurk labor burden of response ($2.42) to get an overall average of $3.46 labor burden per response estimate.
Overall Labor Burden
a. Total Number of Annual Responses: 8,012
b. Total Labor Burden: $27,721.52
13. Respondent Costs Other Than Burden Hour Costs
There are no annualized costs to respondents other than the labor burden costs addressed in Section 12 of this document to complete this collection.
14. Cost to the Federal Government
1. Preservation of the Force and Family (POTFF) Spiritual Fitness Metrics
Number of Total Annual Responses: 8,012
Processing Time Per Response: 1.8 minutes
Hourly Wage of Worker(s): $27.79*
Cost to Process Each Response: $0.83
Total Cost to Process Responses: $6,649.96
* The Worker hourly wage ($27.79) was determined by using the 2017 GS Base Pay scale Table (https://www.federalpay.org/gs/2017), row GS-11, column – Step 5, for a salary of 57,561 and dividing it by 52 (weeks) and 40 (hours per week) with some rounding.
Overall Labor Burden to Federal Government
a. Total Number of Annual Responses: 8,012
b. Total Labor Burden: $6,649.46
b. Operational and Maintenance Costs
Equipment: $6,000
Printing: $0.00
Postage: $0.00
Software Purchases: $1,939.00
Licensing Costs: $4,500.00
Other: $32,748.00
g. Total: $45,187.00
1. Total Operational and Maintenance Costs: $45,187.00
2. Total Labor Cost to the Federal Government: $6,649.96
3. Total Cost to the Federal Government: $51,836.96
15. Reasons for Change in Burden
This is a new collection with a new associated burden.
16. Publication of Results
The results of this information collection will be published as a DoD report at the end of the study and submitted for publication as a new measure to a peer-reviewed academic journal.
17. Non-Display of OMB Expiration Date
We are not seeking approval to omit display of the expiration date of the OMB approval on the collection instrument.
18. Exceptions to “Certification for Paperwork Reduction Submissions”
We are not requesting any exemptions to the provisions stated in 5 CFR 1320.9.
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| File Title | Preservation of the Force and Family (POTFF) Spiritual Fitness Metrics |
| Author | Kaitlin Chiarelli |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-01-15 |