Duke University Religion Index (DUREL)
Also known as: DUREL
The DUREL is a brief, five-item self-report measure of religious involvement developed by Koenig and Büssing in 2010. Designed specifically for epidemiological and health services research, it captures three dimensions of religiosity: organizational religious activity (church attendance), non-organizational religious activity (private prayer and study), and intrinsic religiosity (religious motivation and meaning). The scale is widely used in gerontology, medical sociology, and health outcomes research to assess how religious engagement correlates with physical and mental well-being.
Key highlights
- Multidimensional assessment: captures behavioral, devotional, and attitudinal aspects of religiosity independently, avoiding conflation of different religious domains.
- Brevity: only 5 items, easily administered in medical, epidemiological, or research settings without imposing undue participant burden.
- Psychometric rigor: demonstrated validity and reliability across age groups, ethnicities, and faith traditions in large epidemiological cohorts.
- Agnostic to faith tradition: items do not privilege any specific religion, making the scale useful in diverse, pluralistic populations.
Intuition
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How it works
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When to use it
The DUREL is best suited for epidemiological research, gerontological studies, and health services research where a brief, valid measure of religious dimensions is needed. Use in clinical practice when assessing religious coping resources, spiritual history, or when religious factors may influence health outcomes or treatment adherence. Appropriate for studies spanning diverse faith traditions and non-religious populations. Less suitable for deep qualitative exploration of theological or existential dimensions; for that, narrative or interview methods are superior.
Strengths & limitations
- Multidimensional assessment: captures behavioral, devotional, and attitudinal aspects of religiosity independently, avoiding conflation of different religious domains.
- Brevity: only 5 items, easily administered in medical, epidemiological, or research settings without imposing undue participant burden.
- Psychometric rigor: demonstrated validity and reliability across age groups, ethnicities, and faith traditions in large epidemiological cohorts.
- Agnostic to faith tradition: items do not privilege any specific religion, making the scale useful in diverse, pluralistic populations.
- No clinical cutoff values: interpretation relies on contextual comparison and research-specific referent groups rather than fixed thresholds.
- Self-report bias: participants may over- or under-report religious involvement based on social desirability or perceived expectations.
- Cultural variation: the meaning and salience of 'intrinsic religiosity' may differ across cultures, potentially affecting construct validity in non-Western contexts.
- Ceiling effects in highly religious populations: organizations with predominantly religious members may show compressed score ranges, reducing discriminative power.
Common pitfalls
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Applications
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Frequently asked
Can the DUREL be used in non-religious or secular populations?
Yes. The scale captures the absence of religious involvement (low scores) and is appropriate in secular contexts. However, it does not measure secular spirituality or existential meaning-seeking unrelated to organized religion. For populations with significant non-religious philosophical or existential orientations, supplement with open-ended questions or alternative measures like FACIT-Sp.
How do I interpret a high organizational score but low intrinsic score?
This pattern may indicate extrinsic religiosity (attendance for social or cultural reasons rather than deep personal conviction). Clinically, such individuals may benefit from exploring motivations for participation or identifying alternative sources of meaning. Do not assume high organizational activity equates to deep religious meaning.
Is there a copyrighted or licensing restriction on the DUREL?
The DUREL is in the public domain and freely available for research and clinical use without permission. It has been published in open-access journals and is widely reproduced in methodological papers.
What is the recommended cutoff for 'high' vs. 'low' religious involvement?
The DUREL is typically analyzed as a continuous measure without fixed cutoffs. In some epidemiological studies, median or tertile splits are used for comparative analysis. For clinical purposes, use the subscales to understand the profile of religious involvement relevant to the patient's situation rather than relying on a single summary threshold.
Sources
- 1.Koenig, H. G., & Büssing, A. (2010). The Duke University Religion Index (DUREL): A five-item measure for use in epidemical studies. Religions, 1(1), 78–85.
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Cite this page
ScholarGate. (2026, June 3). DUREL. ScholarGate. https://scholargate.app/psychology-of-religion/duke-religion-index