Professional Anxiety Among Religious Service Providers in Türkiye: Development and Psychometric Evaluation of a...

This study presents the development and psychometric validation of a Professional Anxiety Scale for Religious Service Providers (PAS-RSP) designed to measure the anxiety levels of this professional group. The need for a rigorously constructed, field-specific measurement instrument arises from the documented inadequacy of existing general professional anxiety scales in capturing the unique cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions of anxiety experienced in religious service contexts. The study addresses this gap by developing and validating a 31-item, seven-factor Likert-type instrument with strong psychometric properties. In Türkiye, a total of 231 religious service providers, comprising imams, muezzins, preachers, and Qur'an course instructors, completed the scale. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics (Version 22). Reliability was assessed using Cronbach's Alpha (α = .948), and construct validity was examined through Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), supported by a Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) value of .906 and a statistically significant Bartlett's Test of Sphericity (p < .001). The EFA yielded seven interpretable factors, namely professional social anxiety, professional management anxiety, personal life anxiety, professional success anxiety, religious fictional anxiety, profession's effect on family, and family's impact on profession. Together, these factors accounted for 70.7% of the total variance, substantially exceeding the 50% threshold commonly accepted in the social science literature. All subscales demonstrated acceptable to high internal consistency (α = .656 to .914). Findings indicate that professional anxiety among religious service providers is multidimensional in nature, encompassing professional, personal, familial, and religious dimensions. The scale is a valid, reliable, and contextually sensitive instrument applicable to diverse religious service and faith contexts. These findings carry significant implications for organizational management, personnel development, and the promotion of well-being among religious service workers. However, it should be noted that the scale has substantial methodological limitations. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and test-retest reliability were not conducted for the scale. The absence of CFA means that the factor structure reported in this study remains exploratory and has not yet been independently confirmed. The absence of test-retest reliability assessment limits the extent to which the temporal stability and generalizability of the scale can be established. These limitations should therefore be considered by researchers and practitioners who intend to use or further develop the present scale.