The Black Spiritual Creativity Scale (BSCS)

Abstract

The Black Spiritual Creativity Scale (BSCS; Drake et al., 2025) is an original 15-item psychometric instrument developed to address a critical gap in research concerning the psychological strengths of African Americans. The scale specifically measures how individuals utilize spiritual creativity as a culturally grounded form of empowerment to navigate and thrive in the face of systemic oppression. The development process began with an initial pool of 76 items, which was refined to 26 items following expert review for content and face validity. Pilot testing among African American adults in the US confirmed a robust 2-factor structure via Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), resulting in the final 15-item measure. The BSCS demonstrated strong initial psychometric properties concerning both reliability and validity.

Keywords

African Americans, Spiritual Creativity, Cultural Empowerment, Resistance and Liberation, Personal and Communal Transformation, Content Validity, Psychometrics, Black People, Racial and Ethnic Attitudes, Spirituality Measures.

Authors

Drake, Danielle, Mizock, Lauren, Bryant-Davis, Thema, Harris-Britt, April.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the BSCS is to provide a standardized tool for researchers and clinicians to quantitatively assess the unique ways in which African Americans integrate creativity, rhythm, and soul as powerful spiritual forces. This integration is hypothesized to contribute significantly to two core psychological outcomes: personal transformation and collective mechanisms of resistance and liberation.

The scale specifically aims to highlight strengths-based, culturally specific coping mechanisms used by Black individuals, focusing on their capacity for resilience and spiritual growth within contexts of racial stress and structural inequality.

Construct

The BSCS measures Black Spiritual Creativity, which is conceptualized as a dual-component construct manifesting through two primary factors identified during validation:

• Personal and Communal Transformation: This factor assesses how the integration of spiritual and creative forces facilitates internal change, spiritual self-definition, and a shared sense of empowerment within the Black community.

• Resistance and Liberation: This factor captures the use of spiritual energy and creative expression (such as art, music, or poetry) as an active tool for resisting oppressive forces and achieving spiritual freedom.

Validity

Initial validation studies provided strong evidence supporting the content and construct validity of the BSCS:

• Content Validity: A panel of content experts reviewed the initial item pool to ensure the relevance and representativeness of the items to the construct of spiritual creativity and cultural empowerment among African Americans.

• Convergent Validity: Support was established through a significant positive relationship between the BSCS total score and the established Spirituality Scale (Lindeman, Blomqvist, & Takada, 2012), demonstrating a correlation of r = .52 (p < .01).

• Discriminant Validity: Discriminant validity was confirmed by demonstrating a non-significant correlation between the BSCS and measures of hopelessness (r = .021, p > .05), indicating that the scale measures a distinct, positive psychological construct separate from general distress.

Reliability

The BSCS demonstrated excellent reliability characteristics during its pilot phase, ensuring the consistency and stability of the measurements:

• Internal Consistency: The total 15-item BSCS scale showed excellent internal consistency with a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (α) of .932. The subscales also demonstrated high reliability: Resistance and Liberation (α = .928) and Personal and Communal Transformation (α = .883).

• Split-Half Reliability: High split-half reliability was confirmed, yielding a Guttman’s split half coefficient of .804.

• Test-Retest Reliability: Stability over time was assessed across two intervals separated by one month. The Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) for the total BSCS was high at .96 (95% confidence interval .92–.98), F(42,42) = 22.11, (p < .001).

Factor Analysis

An Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) utilizing varimax rotation was conducted to determine the underlying structure of the BSCS. The rotated factor solution accounted for a substantial 80.5% of the total variation in the data. Both the scree plot and a subsequent parallel analysis strongly supported the retention of a 2-factor solution, which was also conceptually consistent with the theoretical framework of the scale.

The final 15 items were distributed across the two identified factors, with all retained items exceeding an eigenvalue of .40. These two factors correspond directly to the two subscales: Resistance and Liberation, and Personal and Communal Transformation.

Instrument

Test Type: Original

Format: The instrument is an Inventory/Questionnaire. Items are measured on a 6-point Likert scale (ranging from 1 = Strongly Disagree to 6 = Strongly Agree). Administration Method: Electronic.

Language Available: English; Language Present: English

Population Group: Human (Male, Female, Transgender)

Age Group: Adulthood (18 yrs & older)

Population Details: Respondents were African Americans located in the United States, including individuals identifying as Transgender, Gender Nonconforming, and Nonbinary.

Test Methodology: Test Validity; Content Validity; Convergent Validity; Discriminant Validity; Test Reliability; Internal Consistency; Split-Half Reliability; Test-Retest Reliability; Factor Analysis; Exploratory Factor Analysis.

Keywords

Creativity, Empowerment, Racial and Ethnic Attitudes, Resistance, Spirituality, Religion and Spirituality Measures, Black People, Racial, Ethnic, and Cultural Measures, Cultural Empowerment, Transformation.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: No data is Available

Affiliation Email addresses: Drake, Danielle: [email protected]

Correspondence Address: Drake, Danielle: California Institute of Integral Studies, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Office of the Provost, Faculty Development, San Francisco, California, United States, 94103, [email protected]

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Permissions: Contact Publisher

Fee: No Commercial: No Fee: No

Test Year: 2025

Reference’s

Drake, D., Mizock, L., Bryant-Davis, T., & Harris-Britt, A. (2025). Pilot development and initial validation of the Black Spiritual Creativity Scale. Journal of Spirituality in Mental Health, 27(1), 120–140. https://doi.org/10.1080/19349637.2024.2304895

Items of the the Black Spiritual Creativity Scale (BSCS)

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

Test Items Available: Yes

Number of items: This measure consists of 15 items.

Factors and Subscales: Factors: Resistance and Liberation; Personal and Communal Transformation.

Black Spiritual Creativity Scale – Revised (BSCS-R)

Instructions: Please read each statement carefully. Indicate the extent to which you agree or disagree with each statement as it applies to your own experiences, beliefs, and feelings. There are no right or wrong answers. Please respond honestly based on your perspective.

Use the following scale to record your answers:

1 = Strongly Disagree

2 = Disagree

3 = Slightly Disagree

4 = Slightly Agree

5 = Agree

6 = Strongly Agree

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Part 1: Cultural Empowerment

Please rate your agreement with the following statements:

1. My creativity has nothing to do with my spirituality. (R)

2. My sense of spirituality helps me creatively resist oppressive forces.

3. When I am creative I feel spiritually liberated.

4. When I am creative I experience spiritual transformation.

5. My creativity allows me to spiritually define myself.

6. My sense of creativity and my sense of spirituality come from the same place.

7. I feel a sense of liberation when my creativity is spiritually connected.

8. I am better able to resist oppression when my creativity is spiritually connected.

9. I feel creative as a member of the Black community through my spirituality.

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Part 2: Resistance and Liberation

Please rate your agreement with the following statements:

1. The spirit flows through me when I am creating art, music, dance, poetry, etc.

2. When I create, I want it to touch the spirit of those with whom I share it.

3. When I am creating artistic expressions, I feel more spiritually alive.

4. My creativity is a spiritual gift.

5. My creative expression has been spiritually healing for me.

6. I feel spiritually connected when I experience rhythm and soul.

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Scoring Information:

• Response Scale: 6-point Likert scale (1 = Strongly Disagree, 6 = Strongly Agree).

• Reverse Scoring: Item 1, marked with (R), should be reverse scored before analysis. To reverse score on a 6-point scale: 1 becomes 6, 2 becomes 5, 3 becomes 4, 4 becomes 3, 5 becomes 2, 6 becomes 1.

• Subscale Scores:

  • Cultural Empowerment Score: Sum the responses for items 1 (after reverse scoring) through 9. Higher scores indicate a stronger sense of cultural empowerment derived from the intersection of Black identity, spirituality, and creativity.

  • Resistance and Liberation Score: Sum the responses for items 10 through 15. Higher scores indicate a stronger perception of creativity as a site of spiritual connection, expression, resistance, and liberation.

• Total Score: Sum the scores from both subscales (items 1-15, with item 1 reverse scored). Higher scores indicate a stronger overall sense of Black spiritual creativity.

Note: This scale format assumes the original item numbering (e.g., 10, 12, 13…) was not essential to retain, and sequential numbering (1-15) provides better clarity for administration and scoring. The original item content and subscale structure have been preserved.