Measuring Ministry-Specific Stress and Satisfaction: The Psychometric Properties of the Positive and Negative Aspects Inventories

Abstract

This article outlines the creation and validation of a pair of questionnaires that measure both the intensity of potentially positive and negative aspects of Christian ministry life, and the frequency with which these aspects occur. These measures of ministry-specific stress and satisfaction identify life-giving and life-eroding aspects of ministry life that are not typically shared with secular professions and occupations, and also help capture the aspects that either overlap with or differentiate between those who minister inside traditional church settings and those involved in community-based or parachurch ministries. Psychometric testing of the Positive Aspects Inventory (PAI) and Negative Aspects Inventory (NAI) was conducted in two phases. The first phase involved an item and subscale refinement and reliability investigation. The second phase entailed a validity investigation regarding each construct claimed to be measured by the questionnaires, and the establishment of meaningful score ranges for interpretative purposes. The resulting measures have empirical validity and have potential usefulness in further investigations of ministry life wellbeing and stress.