Daily Spiritual Experience Scale (DSES)

The DSES, developed by Underwood and Teresi in 2002, is a 16-item self-report measure designed to capture the frequency and depth of spiritual experiences that occur in everyday life. Unlike scales that measure religious affiliation or institutional participation, the DSES assesses whether and how often individuals report direct, lived spiritual experience—moments of connection to something transcendent, sacred, or divine. It has become widely used in health services research, chaplaincy, and gerontological studies to quantify spiritual well-being and predict psychological and health outcomes.