See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/333079661

Manual of Prayer Scale

Research · May 2019

CITATIONS READS

0 624

3 authors:

Akbar Husain Shah Mohd. Khan

Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh Muslim University
44 PUBLICATIONS   81 CITATIONS    54 PUBLICATIONS   53 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Azizuddin Khan
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
46 PUBLICATIONS   289 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Development and Standardization of the Psychological Capital Scale View project

Impact of High Performance Work Systems on Innovation and Firm's Performance View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Shah Mohd. Khan on 19 May 2019.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 Manual

Prof. Akbar Husain, Dr. S. M. Khan & Prof. Azizuddin Khan

www.prasadpsycho.com
1 8 0 0 1 0 3 9 7 9 8
 Manual

Prayer Scale
(16-5368-KT)

by

Prof. Akbar Husain

Department of Psychology
A.M.U., Aligarh-202002

Dr. S. M. Khan
Associate Professor, Department of Psychology
A.M.U., Aligarh-202002

&

Prof. Azizuddin Khan

Dept. of Humanities & Social Sciences
IIT, Mumbai

10 A, Veer Savarkar Block, Shakarpur, New Delhi-92

www.prasadpsycho.com

Intellectual Property and Copyright © 2019 of Prasad Psycho Corporation. All rights
reserved. May not be reproduced in whole or part in any form or by any means without
permission of Prasad Psycho Corporation.
Published by:

PRASAD PSYCHO CORPORATION

10 A, Veer Savarkar Block, Shakarpur,
New Delhi-110092 [INDIA]
www.prasadpsycho.com

First Publication in India: 2019

Product Code : 16-5368-KT

ISBN No.: 978-93-84764-64-7
 INTRODUCTION

Prayer enhances one’s religious and existential well-being. Its practice

benefits people physically, socially, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.
Through prayer we approach God. The idea prayer to God is something more
than spontaneous praise of His being. Prayer develops inner strength among us
and love for the eternal Beloved. One of the main purposes of prayer is to
remember God. Be constant in praying and mindful. It develops patience,
righteousness, obedience, peace, piety, and punctuality, Prayer is a duty
incumbent on the faithful.
Husain (2018) gave the explanation why we offer Prayer? We do prayer
for purification of heart, recovery of problems, to focus on attention, yearning to
establish relationship with God, eternal consciousness, and remembrance of
God.
Purification: We do prayer sincerely and invoke divine nature for
purification. With prayer, a clarity and purity of thought shines.
Recovery: The power of prayer could work wonders in terms of
recovery of illness. Therefore, the faith and intention should come from within.
Prayer develops hope. Even at moments of crisis, we should continue to pray and
hopeful to receive Allah's blessings. Those who experience the positive effects,
they should continue and perform prayer forever.
Attention: Please give your attention while observing prayer. Dividing
attention is not good during prayer. Actually the mind is inattentive. Surely,
when there is complete attention, then your prayer will be accepted.
Yearning: Follow your heart's boundless desire. Prayer takes you out
of yourself and connects with the God. Devotion to prayer yields positive results.
We should have yearning with unconditional trust and devotion.
Eternal consciousness: Spiritual, transcendental experiences are
entirely experiential in the realm of prayer. Experience of an incredible
consciousness is made possible when the subject effaces himself totally
eliminating subjectivity and the subject-object dichotomy. Eternal
consciousness is experienced only during the observance of prayer. Prayer is an
objective conscious experience by a person which is also a construct of
consciousness. Prayer is a transcendental state where there is an integration of
the experience and experiencer.

5
 Remembrance of God: Whether you are seeing, hearing, eating,
breathing or acting, you are reminded of God every moment of your life. In fact,
your mind gets anchored in the remembrance of God while performing prayer.
The collateral benefits associated with spiritual prayer are health and happiness.
Remembrance of God is the source of energy of life. Through prayer the energy
gets transmitted from one medium to another. Ancients practised this transfer of
energy (transmigration of souls). We should remember that everything comes
from the Divine.
Types of Prayer
Poloma and Pendleton (1989) described four types of personal prayer.
The first is meditative prayer include focusing on being in the presence of the God
a quieting the self. In this prayer the individual appears to seek a connection and
spiritual support from the God. The second is ritual prayer, it involves to read the
memorized prayers or to recite the prepared prayers. The third is petitionary
prayer involves requesting the God that specific material need to be met. The
fourth is colloquial prayer involves conversational intercourse with the God for
blessing, forgiveness, comfort, guidance, strength as well as love and gratitude
for the God. Two types of prayer (meditative and colloquial) positively related
with the positive aspects of the quality of life as well as with the measures of
general well-being. While only ritual prayer was related with greater negative
effect. They also found that prayer experiences and frequency of prayer appeared
to be the best predictors of psychological well-being (Poloma & Pendleton, 1991).
If we have faith nothing is impossible in this world. Faith is an inner
conviction whereas prayers are premised on faith in divinity within. Rituals are
only aids to help us find ourselves. Prayer may not end all suffering but it can
certainly help us to endure well what cannot be cured. However, we need to
remember that faith alone can never be a substitute for executing one's
responsibilities in life. A pragmatic approach is necessary.
Those prayers that are accepted by way of exaltation have the following
signs:
First, that the supplicant is righteous and truthful and a perfect
individual.
Second, that he is informed of the acceptance of his prayer through the
word of God.
Third, most of these prayers are of a high degree and related to great
affairs, the acceptance of which show that it is not the work or planning of man,

6
but is a special sample of Divine Power which is manifested in the case of selected
servants.
Fourth, the prayers by way of trail are accepted rarely, but the prayers by
way of exaltation are accepted in large numbers. Very often a supplicant by way of
exaltation is involved in such difficulties that if any other person had been
involved in them, he would have seen no way out of them except through suicide.
It happens that when those worship the world and are far away from God
Almighty are involved in the great grief, and sorrows, and disease, and disorder
and trails from which there is no escape, they, on account of the weakness of their
faith and their despair of God Almighty in a wonderful manner on account of the
strength of his faith and special relationship with God. The favour of God takes
hold of his hand in a wonderful manner so that the heart of one who is aware of
these mysteries testifies involuntarily that the person concerned enjoys the
support of God.
Fifth, a supplicant by way of exaltation is the recipient of Divine favours
and God almighty becomes his Guardian in all matters and the light of the love of
God and the signs of acceptance by God and of spiritual delight and favours are
manifested in his countenance as is said by “Thou Wilt find in their faces the
freshness of bliss.”

Empirical Studies Supporting the Effectiveness of Prayer

Since 1980's a number of studies have been reported to establish the
positive relationship between prayer and physical and mental health (see review
Husain & Jahan, 2017). Summary of the previous studies conducted recently on
the Muslim population are given in the following paragraphs. Studies presented
in this paper are in chronological order.
Hood, Morris, and Watson (1987, 1989) conducted two separate
correlational studies. In the first study they use a convenience sample of 198
people with a mean age of 31 years and in the second study use 86 people who
prayed and meditated. The important finding of these two studies was two
studies was that intrinsic religious persons who regularly prayed or meditated
scored higher on the measures of mystical awareness (a feeling of unity) as
compared to the extrinsic religious persons.

7
 Poloma and Gallup (1991) examined the relationship between prayer
and prayer experiences using both qualitative and quantitative data of a survey
research conducted during 1985 Akron Area Survey-AAS (Poloma & Pendleton,
1991) included the data of 560 respondents. The results of this study indicated
that meditative prayer was strongly related to the religious experience
(experience of closeness to God).
Richards (1991) conducted a study on “the phenomenology and
psychological correlates of verbal prayer” using a sample of 345 participants. He
found that the intensity of prayer experiences (like feeling energy or feeling God's
presence) was positively associated with spiritual experience, absorption and
purpose in life as well as negatively associated with external locus of control.
Maltby, Lewis, and Day (1999) conducted a study on 474 students (251
males and 223 females) aged 18 to 29 years to explore the role of religious
activities between a number of measures of religious orientation and
psychological well-being. The results of the study suggested two points: (1) the
relationship between the frequency of personal prayer and psychological well-
being mediate the relationship between the measures of religiosity and
psychological well-being. (2) Within the theory of religious coping personal
prayer may be considered as an important factor.
Salat plays a beneficial role in rehabilitation of disabled geriatric
patients by improving their physical and mental health (Reza, Urakami, & Mano,
2002). Hussain and Cochrane (2003) found that Muslim women cope with
depression through prayer and recite the verses of Holy Qur'an to ask for
protection from symptoms and illness.
Francis and Kaldor (2002) conducted a survey using a random sample of
989 adults to examine the relationship between Christian faith and practices and
psychological well-being in the Australian population. Findings of the study
revealed that belief in God, church attendance and personal prayer were found to
be positively correlated with psychological well-being.
Praying during sickness produces physical benefits like reduced
blood-pressure (Al-Kandari, 2003), psychological/emotional benefits such as a
decrease in depression and fear, and spiritual benefits such as preparation for
death.
Buchko (2004) suggested that females experience a strong spiritual
relational element with their religion to a greater extent as compared to males. It

8
was found that through prayer they experience connectedness with God daily,
feel sure that God is active and present in their life, seek direction and teaching
from religious gurus when facing problems, feel security and comfort from faith
and express devotion and respect for God.
Prayer is also widely used to address health concerns by individuals with
a wide array of physical and mental health diagnoses (Saydah & Eberhardt,
2006). Prayer in the form of supplication is powerful in creating hope for the
distressed and relieves tension. Salih (2007) examined the effects of prayer on
Muslim patients' well-being. The researcher found positive effects of prayer on
well-being.
Husain and Qayoom (2016) reviewed a number of studies on the relationship
between prayer and well-being.
Baker (2008) examined the content and frequency of prayer by using the
empirical data of the Baylor Religion Survey (2005), consisting of a random
sample of 1,721 U.S adults. He found that females as compared to males and
people with lower income as compared to people with higher income engaged
more frequently in the act of prayer.
Rezaei, Abid, Hajbaghery, Seyedfatemi, and Hoseini (2008) conducted a
study entitled “Prayer in Iranian cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.”
The researchers found significant relationships between age, marital status and
educational level and performing prayer, prayer experience and attitude toward
prayer.
Idler, Boulifard, Labouvie, Chen, Krause, and Contrada (2009)
conducted a study in order to evaluate some measures to describe the
experiences occurring during the worship services. The sample of the study
consisted of 576 heart surgery patients (both male and female) with age ranges
from 28 to 89 years. It was found that religious services attendance provides
multifaceted social, emotional, physical and spiritual experiences that may
further promote through multiple pathways physical health.
Qidwai, Tabasum, Hanif, and Khan (2009) conducted a study to examine
the association between the practice and belief in offering prayers and its effect
on healing. The sample of the study consisted of 400 patients with mean age of
34.33 years at a hospital in Karachi. The results revealed that 96.5% of the patients
practiced prayer for healing and prayer caused healing was believed by them
(95.85%). It was believed by 93% of the patients that prayers provide the concept

9
of healing. Almost 97.5% believed that medical treatment should be combined
with prayer for healing. It was concluded that the practice and belief in offering
prayers have a favourable effect on recovery from illness and healing.
Tiliouine and Belgoumidi (2009) conducted a study to examine the
association of religiosity (religious beliefs, religious practices, enrichment of
religious experience and religious altruism) with subjective well-being and
meaning in life. The sample of the study consisted of 495 Muslim students
(male=165 and female=330) with mean age of 21.26 and SD=2.30 years. The
findings revealed a significant contribution of religious belief and religious
altruism in providing meaning in life. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated
that only religious beliefs significantly contributed to both personal well-being
Index and satisfaction with life scale.
According to Alwasiti, Aris, and Jantan (2010), Muslim prayer is the
meditation of Islam. It is an obligatory prayer for all Muslims that are performed
five times a day. However, Muslim prayer did not show an increase in alpha
and/or theta power like most of the results of other meditation studies.
Colón-Bacó (2010) investigated the association between the strength of
religious beliefs and subjective well-being by using the data from GSS (General
Social Survey) 1983, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1993 and 1994 of the 3546 US respondents.
The age of the respondents ranging from 18 to 89 years with mean age of 44.52 and
SD= 17.46 years. In this study, the strength of the religious beliefs was measured
by the frequency of prayer. The results revealed that stronger religious beliefs
were positively associated with subjective well-being. The strength of religious
beliefs statistically significantly predicted subjective well-being. It was also
found that the frequency of prayer and religious services attendance were
positively associated with life satisfaction and personal happiness.
Tamini and Fadaei (2011) examined the association of Islamic beliefs
with psychological well-being. The sample consisted of 300 undergraduate
students (male= 148 and female= 152). They completed the Islamic belief and
psychological well-being questionnaire. The findings revealed that Islamic
beliefs was found to be significantly positively associated with life satisfaction,
optimism, happiness, personal growth and spirituality as well as with total scores
of well-being, but a significant negative relationship was also found between
Islamic religiosity and positive relationship with others.
Miller, Gall, and Corbeil (2011) conducted a qualitative study on 10
individuals (2 male and 8 female) from catholic faith using semi-structured

10
interview in order to understand the personal prayer experience with a sacred
object within the situation of significant life stress. On the basis of the
participants' narratives they found that within a sacred object the experience of
prayer is an integral and rich aspect of the spiritual life of those individuals which
ultimately supports a sense of meaning in life even in the situation of major life
stressor. Some participants revealed that they utilize prayer with a sacred object
as a means of communicating and connecting with the divine and in particular as
a strong root to release strong negative emotions (fear and anger). Most of the
participants experience a sense of guidance as well as unconditional support
which help them to remain settled when life goes apart from them. For some
participants it goes beyond the emotional support and communicating with the
divine to a sense of oneness with that divine reality and felt a deep
spiritual/religious experience. Through prayer with the sacred object positive
emotions (peace, calm) can be enhanced that in turn make more bearable
negative emotions (anxiety).
Aflakseir (2012) conducted a study to investigate the relationship of
religiosity with psychological well-being and personal meaning as well as to
explore their perception towards meaning of life among Muslim students who
practice rituals. The sample of the study consisted of 60 Muslim students of
England age ranged from 18-28 years, with mean age of 22 years. The results
indicated that the life was meaningfully perceived by Muslim students and the
most important source of meaning in life were engaging in religious activities as
well as in personal relationships with friend and family members. Further a
positive relationship of spirituality/religiosity as measured by 'strength of
spiritual belief scale' with different dimensions of psychological well-being and
various components of personal meaning was also found.
Kulis, Hodge, Ayers, Brown, and Marsiglia (2012) conducted a study to
explore the protective factors of spirituality and religious attendance against
substance use among urban American Indian youth by using a sample of 123
American Indian youth. From the findings of the study, researchers concluded
that American Indian spiritual beliefs were found to be related with antidrug
attitudes, experiences and norms.
Rong, Ping, Caifang, Zhang, and Jinfu (2012) examined the effect of
Salat and exercise on cognitive functioning of Hui Muslims aged sixty and over.
They found that participants who either practiced salat or did physical exercise
exhibited same level of cognitive functioning and they were better cognitive
functioning than group 2 who neither prayed nor exercised regularly.

11
 Atarodi, Mottaghi, and Atarodi (2013) conducted a cross-sectional study
which consisted of 70 students from two Guidance schools, one was a non- profit
making school and the other was an elite school. The result indicates significant
relationship between student's familiarity with prayer, praise and their faith in
its effects on peace of mind and physical health.
Rufa'i1, Aliyu, Oyeyemi1, and Oyeyemi1 (2013) advocate that movement
dysfunction may be expressed in terms of symptoms experienced in non-
physiological postures, and head-down crooked kneeling (HDCK) is a posture
frequently assumed by Muslims during prayer activities. The purpose of this
study was to investigate the cardiovascular responses in the HDCK posture.
Seventy healthy volunteers, comprising 35 males and 35 females, participated in
the study. The study showed a significant decrease in systolic and diastolic blood
pressures at one minute into the HDCK posture and an increase in pulse rate at
one and three minutes into the HDCK posture, as compared to the resting values.
Rate pressure product also rose at one minute into the HDCK posture, whereas
pulse pressure increased at one and three minutes into the HDCK posture, as
compared with the resting values. However, no significant change was observed
in the mean arterial pressure values.
In Islam, spiritual activities such as taubah and zikir are very common
among the Muslim community and these are generally performed to the
perfection of individual's mind. In addition, it is believed that through these
activities a connection can be made with the Almighty. Therefore, reasonably
after the performance of these activities the psychophysiological performance of
the respondents will be changed significantly. This significant change is traceable
with the aid of GSR and HRV biofeedback. In this study, it is observed that
remarkable changes of GSR percentage and accumulated coherence score of
HRV among the 18 respondents due to the consequences of spiritual activities.
Thus, it is possible to say that to make the positive changes of
psychophysiological activities of any individuals spiritual activities may be
considered as a substantial stimuli in psychophysiological research (Muhammad
Nubli Abdul Wahab & Urme Binte Salam, 2013).
Hafeez and Rafique (2013) conducted a study to examine whether
religiosity and spirituality predict psychological well-being. The sample of the
study consisted of 60 (male=30 and female=30) Muslim residents of old age
homes situated in the city of Lahore, aged 60 and above. The results of the study
revealed that religiosity was found to be a statistically significant predictor of
psychological well-being, whereas spirituality did not significantly predict
psychological well-being.
12
 Vasiliauskas and McMinn (2013) conducted an experimental
intervention study by using a sample of 411 undergraduate students with mean
age 21.0, SD=4.3 years to explore the effect of prayer on forgiveness. Students
were randomly assigned to three different groups (prayer group, devotional
attention group and a control group). The prayer group engaged in a 16 days
devotional prayer and reading related to forgiveness and the devotional attention
group focused on devotional readings not focused on forgiveness. The findings of
the study indicated that prayer intervention group towards their offender
showed significant changes in empathy. Also the prayer and devotional attention
group revealed significant changes in the state of forgiveness.
Doufesh, Ibrahim, Ismail, and Ahmad (2014) conducted a study to
examine the effect of Muslim prayer (Salat) on α Electroencephalography and its
relationship with Autonomic Nervous system activity. The study investigated the
effect of Salat on the α relative power (RPα) of Electroencephalography (EEG),
Autonomic nervous activity and the relationship of it by using spectral analysis of
EEG and heart rate variability (HRV). The EEG and HRV were continuously
recorded before, during, and after performing Salat. Significant increase during
Salat was observed in the mean RPα in the occipital and parietal regions and the
high frequency (normalizes unit) power of HRV as Parasympathetic index.
A number of evidences reported earlier indicate that the act of praying
itself may be associated with reduced muscle tension, improved cardiovascular
and neuro immunologic parameters, enhanced cognitive functioning,
physiological and better physical functioning, improve psychological/emotional
and spiritual benefits.
On the basis of the findings of above studies it may be suggested that
meditative/contemplative prayer has a strong relationship with the experience
of unity (mystical) and nearness (numinous) to God. Moreover, it may also be
concluded that while doing prayer with a sacred object in order to experience the
connection with the divine, a sense of oneness with the divine reality, a deep
spiritual/religious experience and a sense of guidance and unconditional
support one should have belief in that sacred object.

Operational Definition of Prayer and its Dimensions

Prayer: A religious practice for improving ones well-being, connection
with God, has definite purpose i.e. to improve health and serenity, maintenance
of discipline and material benefits.
Dimensions of Prayer: There are five factors of Prayer :

13
1. Well-being: The impact of prayer is mainly on the well-being of people.
Ideally prayer to God is something more than praise of His being. Its
practice benefits peoples' wellbeing-- physically, socially, mentally and
spiritually. Prayer enhances one's religious and existential well-being.
2. Health and Security: This dimension of prayer can be particularly
significant for people suffering from diseases. Prayer helps to improve
health and can provide security. Prayer can have impact on health and
security depending on the number of times a person do prayer.
3. Maintenance of Discipline: Prayer has value in terms of maintaining
discipline. This factor can be extremely helpful for one's physical and
mental health.
4. Connection with God: Through prayer we establish connection with
God in order to develop concentration, to protect from sins, and for
seeking wisdom. Prayer develops connection and love for the eternal
Beloved.
5. Material Benefits: Some people do prayers invariably contain an
element of asking something from God for material benefits. They
believe that prayer helps them whatever they need to fulfil their
demands. It is good sign if one really enjoys doing pray.

Draft Scale
Prayer scale was standardized on students studying at under graduate
and post graduate levels of Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. It was made
bilingual (Hindi & English) before administration. The scale comprised 35 items
with 6-point Likert type responses, viz., Strongly Disagree, Mostly Disagree,
Slightly Disagree, Slightly Agree, Mostly Agree & Strongly Agree. This scale was
administered to a representative sample of 150 male and female students.
After scoring the items of each testee, the scores were arranged in
descending order (highest scoring to the lowest). Two separate groups, one of
27% from the highest scoring and other of 27% from the lowest scoring were
made. Inter correlation matrix was examined in order to overcome existence of
multicollinearity and singularity in the scale. After analysis, 11 items having the
multicollinearity and singularity were rejected and the final draft of the scale
comprised of 24 items. Table 1 showing dimensions and number of items in
respective dimensions.

14
 Table 1
No. of items representing to dimensions of Prayer Scale
Sr. No. Dimensions Items No.
1. Well being 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 8
2. Health and Security 20, 21, 22, 34, 24 5
3. Maintenance of Discipline 9, 7, 10, 11 4
4. Connection with God 2, 3, 4 3
5. Material benefits 1, 5, 8, 9 4
Prayer Scale 24 24

The scoring criterion for items in prayer scale is given in table 2.

Table 2
Scoring System

Prayer Strongly Mostly Slightly Slightly Mostly Strongly

Scale Disagree Disagree Disagree Agree Agree Agree
Scoring 1 2 3 4 5 6

Standardization of the Prayer Scale

The final manuscript with 24 items was administered to a representative sample
of 300 students. The total score of the scale varied from 24 to 144 and can be
inferred as higher the score higher the practices of Prayer and vice-versa.
The mean age of the students participated in the development of scale was 22.71
years with 18 years as minimum and 24 years as maximum.

Instructions
Instructions for administration of the scale are printed on the first page of the
scale. The scale can be administered individually or in a group (not more than 30
subjects at a time). The subjects were assured that their responses will not be
disclosed but will be used for the research purpose only. They were asked to read
each and every item carefully and give your responses candidly.

15
Reliability
The consideration of reliability of a scale viewed as essential elements for
determining the quality of any standardized test. Cronbach's alpha was used for
determining the internal consistency reliability of the scale.

Table 3
Descriptive statistics of Items, Scale and Cronbach's Alpha
Descriptive statistics for item Descriptive statistics for scale

Item
No. Scale Means *Corrected Cronbach's
Range Mean Variance SD if item Item- Alpha if Item
Deleted Correlation Deleted

Ps01 5 4.13 2.56 1.60 108.63 0.37 0.91

Ps02 5 4.47 2.27 1.51 108.29 0.53 0.90
Ps03 5 4.72 1.99 1.41 108.04 0.51 0.90
Ps04 5 4.44 2.46 1.57 108.32 0.51 0.90
Ps05 5 4.22 2.64 1.63 108.54 0.39 0.91
Ps06 5 4.44 1.93 1.39 108.32 0.44 0.90
Ps07 5 4.59 1.86 1.36 108.17 0.55 0.90
Ps08 5 4.55 2.03 1.43 108.21 0.37 0.91
Ps09 5 4.70 1.96 1.40 108.06 0.42 0.90
Ps10 5 4.91 1.21 1.10 107.85 0.51 0.90
Ps11 5 4.84 1.32 1.15 107.92 0.53 0.90
Ps12 5 4.86 1.43 1.20 107.90 0.58 0.90
Ps13 5 4.71 1.68 1.30 108.05 0.62 0.90
Ps14 5 4.96 1.21 1.10 107.80 0.60 0.90
Ps15 5 4.90 1.25 1.12 107.86 0.71 0.90
Ps16 5 4.87 1.53 1.24 107.89 0.56 0.90
Ps17 5 4.83 1.76 1.33 107.93 0.53 0.90
Ps18 5 4.78 1.51 1.23 107.98 0.55 0.90
Ps19 5 4.76 1.79 1.34 108.00 0.48 0.90
Ps20 5 4.80 1.63 1.28 107.96 0.47 0.90
Ps21 5 4.77 1.82 1.35 107.99 0.58 0.90
Ps22 5 4.81 1.76 1.32 107.94 0.45 0.90
Ps23 5 4.80 1.76 1.33 107.96 0.51 0.90
Ps24 5 4.90 1.46 1.21 107.86 0.68 0.90

* r=0.12 (p<0.001) two tailed

16
 Table 4
Descriptive statistics of Prayer Scale

Mean Variance N SD No. of Items

112.76 323.95 300 18.00 24

Table 5
Cronbach's Alpha for Prayers Scale and its dimensions.

Sr. No. Dimensions Cronbach's Alpha

1. Well being 0.87
2. Health and Security 0.83
3. Maintenance of Discipline 0.71
4. Connection with God 0.78
5. Material benefits 0.68
Prayer Scale 0.91

Cronbach's Alpha for Prayer scale and its dimensions was 0.87, 0.83, 0.71,
0.78, 0.68, 0.91 for Well being, Health and Security, Maintenance of Discipline,
Connection with God and Material benefits dimensions and for full scale
respectively, which are significant at p < 0.001 level. The internal consistency of
the scale is quite high and this gives a support that the scale has highly excellent
reliability (George & Mallery, 2003).

Composite Reliability
Composite reliability of the scale was calculated using the following
formula.

Where, is the value of factor loading for respective item and is the
error time. The values of composite reliabilities for factors are varying from 0.70
to 0.89 and are given in table 6. To be in acceptable range the value of composite
reliability needs to be greater than 0.70.

17
Validity
A. Content (Face and logical) validity of the scale was verified by
number of experts and academicians. There are various methods to
establish construct validity of the tool. Data screening was carried out in
order to overcome existence of multicollinearity and singularity in the
scale. For testing multicollinearity and singularity 'Determinant' of the
R-matrix was estimated and it was greater than in both cases 0.00001.
Sampling adequacy was also carried out and found to be greater than
0.50 as required.

B. Factorial Validity Factorial validity was examined by using

exploratory factor analysis with principal component analysis as
extraction and varimax as rotation methods. Results are shown in
table 6.

Table 6
Factor Loading for Prayers Scale and its dimensions.

Factors

Item No Factor Loadings

I II III IV V

Ps16 .771

Ps19 .703

Ps13 .694

Ps18 .674
Well-being
Ps15 .672

Ps14 .609

Ps17 .553

Ps12 .543

18
 Factors

Item No Factor Loadings

I II III IV V

Ps20 .819

Ps24 .747

Ps23 .685 Health and Security

Ps22 .601

Ps21 .511

Ps11 .698

Ps10 .635 Maintenance of

Discipline
Ps7 .557

Ps9 .524

Ps4 .698

Ps3 Connection with God .635

Ps2 .557

Ps1 .723

Ps8 .672
Material Benefits
Ps9 .663

Ps5 .585
Average Variance Extracted 0.35 0.46 0.37 0.47 0.44
Percent of Variance Explained 18.08 11.72 11.06 10.38 9.70

Cum. Percent of Variance

18.08 29.81 40.86 51.24 60.95
Explained

Composite Reliability 0.89 0.81 0.70 0.73 0.76

19
 The percent of variance accounted by factors varied from 9.70% to
18.08%. In summing up all five factors explained 60.95% of the total variance. The
factorial validity of the scale is excellent and established statistically.

A. Construct Validity
The concurrent (construct) validity of prayer scale was examined by
using Pearson Product Moment Correlation (zero order) with the scale Spiritual
well being developed by Ellison & Paloutzian (1982) and was found to be 0.50
(p<0.001) two tailed. It confirms that the construct validity of the prayer scale is
excellent.

B. Convergent Validity
The average variance extracted by each factor was calculated using the
formula :

Where, is the factor loading or correlation of item with respective sub-

construct.
To confirm the convergent validity, the value needs to be around 0.50
and in our case it was greater than which confirms the convergent validity of the
prayer scale.

C. Inter-Factorial Validity
The inter-factorial validity of the scale was estimated to confirm all
factors as correlated to each other and measuring the same construct and shown
in table 7.
Table 7
Inter-factorial Validity:
Descriptive statistics and factor loadings
*Factor
Dimensions Mean SD
I II III IV V Overall
Well being 38.67 7.14 1 0.58 0.50 0.53 0.34 0.85
Health and Security 24.08 5.01 1 0.53 0.31 0.33 0.76
Maintenance of Discipline 19.04 3.68 1 0.45 0.44 0.75
Connection with God 13.63 3.73 1 0.40 0.69
Material benefits 17.35 4.32 1 0.64
Prayer Scale 112.76 18.00 1
**r=0.12 (p< 0.001) two tailed.

20
 Inter-factorial correlations indicate that all factors are significantly
correlated with each other and measuring the same construct.

Norms
The standard score (more commonly referred to as Z-Score) is very
useful statistics, as it enables us to compare scores that are from normal
distribution. Standard (Z score) Scores were calculated by using the descriptive
statistics (Mean = 112.76, SD=18.00, N=300).

Where X is the raw score of prayer scale, µ is the mean and σ is the
standard deviation. On the basis of descriptive statistics, the Z score norms have
been prepared which are valid for adolescents and shown in Table 8.

Table 8
Z-score norms for the Prayer Scale
Mean = 112.76 SD: 18.00 N=300
Raw Raw Raw Raw z-score
z-Score z-Score z-Score
Score Score Score Score
81 -1.764 97 -0.876 113 0.013 129 0.902
82 -1.709 98 -0.820 114 0.069 130 0.958
83 -1.653 99 -0.764 115 0.124 131 1.013
84 -1.598 100 -0.709 116 0.180 132 1.069
85 -1.542 101 -0.653 117 0.236 133 1.124
86 -1.487 102 -0.598 118 0.291 134 1.180
87 -1.431 103 -0.542 119 0.347 135 1.236
88 -1.376 104 -0.487 120 0.402 136 1.291
89 -1.320 105 -0.431 121 0.458 137 1.347
90 -1.264 106 -0.376 122 0.513 138 1.402
91 -1.209 107 -0.320 123 0.569 139 1.458
92 -1.153 108 -0.264 124 0.624 140 1.513
93 -1.098 109 -0.209 125 0.680 141 1.569
94 -1.042 110 -0.153 126 0.736 142 1.624
95 -0.987 111 -0.098 127 0.791 143 1.680
96 -0.931 112 -0.042 128 0.847 144 1.736

21
 The Z score norms have been categorised labelled and
interpretation in reference to practice of Prayer are given in Table 9.

Table 9
Classification of Norms for Interpretation
of the Practice of Prayer

S.N0 Range Level Practice of Prayer

1. +1.50 and above A Extremely High (Positive)

2. +1.00 to +1.49 B High (Positive)

3. +0.51 to +0.99 C Above Average (Positive)

4. -0.50 to +0.50 D Average/Moderate (Neutral)

5. -0.99 to -0.51 E Below Average (Negative)

6. -1.49 to -1.00 F Low (Negative)

7. -1.50 and below G Extremely Low (Negative)

Summary
The prayer scale has excellent internal consistency, composite reliability
and intra-factorial reliability. The face, content, factorial (construct) and
construct, convergent and inter-factorial validities were also high and are in
acceptable range. It can be concluded that the scale is highly reliable and valid for
measurement of practice of prayer.

Conclusion
The prayer scale provided opportunities for more research and
integration of prayer within the framework of religious/spiritual therapy or
counselling. The standardized prayer scale may be further expanded by
incorporating the dimensions related to the purpose of observing prayer. The
proposed five-dimension model of prayer would be useful for mental health
researchers and professionals.

22
Uses
This scale is helpful in self-analysis, researchers and practitioners to
measure the overall practice of prayer and on its sub-domains, Well-being,
Health and security, Maintenance of discipline, Connection with God and
Material benefits. Prayer Scale serves as a measure of individual measurement of
practices of prayer about an individual.

References
Aflakseir, A. (2012). Religiosity, personal meaning, and psychological well-
being.: A study among Muslim students in England. Pakistan Journal of
Social and Clinical Psychology, 9(2), 27-31.
Baker, J. O. (2008). An investigation of the sociological patterns of prayer
frequency and content. Sociology of Religion, 69(2), 169-185.
Buchko, K. J. (2004). Religious beliefs and practices of college women compared
to college men. Journal of College Student Development, 45, 89-98.
Carrel, A. (1935). Man, the unknown. New York: Harper & Brothers.
Colón-Bacó, E. (2010). The strength of religious beliefs is important for subjective
well-being. Undergraduate Economic Review, 6(1), Article 11.
Cousins, N. (1979). Anatomy of an illness. New York: Norton.
Cousins, N. (1986). The human adventure: Acamera chronicle. New York:
Saybrook Publishers.
Francis, L. J., & Kaldor, P. (2002). The relationship between psychological well-
being and Christian faith and practice in an Australian population
sample. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 41(1), 179-184.
Frankl, V. E. (1973). The doctor and the soul: From psychotherapy to
Logotherapy. New York: Vintage Books. (Originally published in 1946 as
Ärztliche Seelsorge.)
Hafeez, A., & Rafique, R. (2013). Spirituality and religiosity as predictors of
psychological well-being in residents of old homes. The Dialouge, 8(3),
285-301.
Hood, R. W., Morris, R. J., & Watson, P. J. (1987). Religious orientation and
prayer experience. Psychological Reports, 60, 1201-1202.

23
Hood, R. W., Morris, R. J., & Watson, P. J. (1989). Prayer experience and religious
orientation. Review of Religious Research, 31, 39-45.
Husain, A., & Qayoom, S. (2016). The power of prayer in enhancing well-being.
Remarking, IIXI), 98-103.
Husain, A. (2018) Applied Islamic Psychology : A Fresh Interpretation, New
Delhi, Global Vision Publishing House.
Idler, E. L., Boulifard, D. A., Labouvie, E., Chen, Y. Y., Krause, T. J., & Contrada,
R. J. (2009). Looking inside the black box of attendance at services: New
measures for exploring an old dimension in religion and health research.
International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 19(1), 1-20.
Kulis, S., Hodge, D.R., Ayers, S. L., Brown, E.F. & Marsiglia, F. F. (2012).
Spirituality and religion: Intertwined protective factors for substance
use among urban American Indian youth. American Journal of Drug &
Alcohol Abuse, 38(5), 444-449.
Miller, L. M., Gall, T. L., & Corbeil, L. (2011). The experience of prayer with a
sacred object within the context of significant life stress. Journal of
Spirituality in Mental Health, 13(4), 247-271.
Peale, N. V. (1952). The power of positive thinking. New York: Fawcett Crest.
Poloma, M. M., & Gallup, G. H., Jr. (1991). Varieties of prayer: A survey report.
Philadelphia: Trinity Press International.
Poloma, M. M., & Pendleton, B. F. (1991). The effect of prayer and prayer
experiences on measures of general well-being. Journal of Psychological
and Theology 19(1), 71-83.
Qidwai, W., Tabasum, R., Hanif, R., & Khan, F. (2009). Belief in Prayers and its
role in healing among family practice patients visiting a teaching
hospital in Karachi, Pakistan. Pakistan Journal of medical Sciences,
25(2), 182-189.
Richards, D. G. (1991). The phenomenology and psychological correlates of
verbal prayer. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 19, 354-363.
Tamini, B. K., & Fadaei, A. (2011). Relationship between Islamic beliefs and
Psychological well-being. Psychological Research, 1(1), 52.

24
Tiliouine, H., & Belgoumidi, A. (2009). An exploratory study of religiosity,
meaning in life and subjective well-being in Muslim students from
Algeria. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 4(1), 109-127.
Vasiliauskas, S. L., & McMinn, M. R. (2013). The effect of a prayer intervention on
the process of forgiveness. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 5(1),
23-32.
Watson, L. E. (1988). Light from many lamps. New York: Simon & Schuster.

25
 About the Authors
Dr. Akbar Husain is Professor in the Dept. of Psychology,
AMU, Aligarh. He was awarded D.litt. in Psychology in 2015. He
has over 38 years of teaching and research experience. Prof.
Husain received Sir Syed Innovation Award for outstanding
Researcher of the year 2018. He has successfully supervised 10
M.Phil. dissertations and 32 Ph.D. thesis. He has 240+ research
papers, theoretical articles chapters in edited books. He has
authored, co-authored and edited 36 books. Prof. Husain has participated in a
number of conferences (National and International) level. He is on the editorial
board of several prestigious journals.

Dr. S.M. Khan is Associate Professor in the Department of

Psychology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. Prior to
joining the AMU, Dr. Khan was an officer at the Research
Designs and Standards Organization (only R&D organization
of Indian Railways) and posted at Lucknow, Kolkata and
Mumbai. He was responsible for selection of safety staff for
Indian Railways through aptitude test and research relating to
human error in train operations. Dr. Khan has developed and standardized 14
tests. He has vast experience in developing research methodology, data analysis
and interpretation of results. In addition to this his current areas of research are:
Psychometry, Psychological Assessment, Cognitive Science, Industrial
Psychology, Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource Management.

Prof. Azizuddin Khan is Professor in the Indian Institute of

Technology, Mumbai. His areas of research and interests are
Developmental Neuropsychology, Education and Child
Development, Eyewitness Testimony, Cognitive Ergonomics,
EEG/Event Related Potential, Working Memory and
Prospective Memory and Developmental Dyslexia.
The complete kit of Prayer Scale (16-5368-KT) contains:

16-5368-M 1 Manual

16-5368-CB 100 Consumable Booklets

Published by:

10 A, Veer Savarkar Block, Shakarpur, New Delhi-110092

Phone: +91 11 43203333 | Fax: +91 11 43203344
Email: [email protected] | Web: www.prasadpsycho.com

View publication stats