Background: Spiritual well-being is important for patients having life-limiting illness. Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spirituality 12(FACIT-Sp 12) is commonly used to assess spiritual well-being(SWB). Shortened versions of question would be helpful to assess SWB in emaciated patients. 
Aims: Our goal was to develop an one-item question appropriately in order to assess SWB in advanced cancer inpatients. 
Methods: This is a cross-sectional, multicenter study involving adult advanced cancer inpatients from 7 palliative care units in South Korea. Candidates of an one-item question were three questions to check; their peacefulness(Are you at peace?), spirituality(Do you think yourself as a spiritual person?) and religiosity(Do you think yourself as a religious person?). Patients answered three questions by self-rating using numeric rating scales(0-10). We collected data on clinicodemographic characteristics and SWB. SWB was measured by FACIT-Sp 12, comprised of 2 subscales (Meaning/Peace and Faith). Pearson’s correlation test was conducted to determine the relationship among three questions, the total score of FACIT-Sp 12 and its subscales. 
Results: A total number of 202 patients were enrolled in the study. A fair correlation was observed in the questions of spirituality(r = 0.732, P < 0.01) and religiosity(r = 0.708, P < 0.01) with a total score of FACIT-Sp12. Question of peacefulness showed a moderate correlation with a total score of FACIT-Sp 12(r = 0.505, P < 0.01). The faith subscale showed good correlation with the questions of spirituality(r = 0.790, P < 0.01) and religiosity(r = 0.758, P < 0.01). All three questions had a moderate correlation with the meaning/peace subscale. 
Conclusion: The questions of spirituality and religiosity showed better convergence validity than the question of peacefulness. Therefore, we recommend the questions of spirituality or religiosity as an one-item question to assess SWB in advanced cancer inpatients.

Development of an One-item Question to Assess Spiritual Well-being in Advanced Cancer Inpatients in South Korea