Abstract
This article presents Spiritist Involvement as a theoretical, clinical, and psychometric category in the field of mental health through the development and validation of the Spiritist Involvement Form (FENE). The instrument was created based on a theoretical review, expert evaluation, and pilot testing, and applied in a cross-sectional study with 848 participants in the state of Ceará during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results indicated that higher levels of spiritist involvement were associated with lower prevalence of severe symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress, and suicidal ideation. In multivariate analysis, participants with regular to very high spiritist involvement before the pandemic had a 62% reduction in the likelihood of severe suicidal ideation during the pandemic (OR = 0.38; 95% CI: 0.16-0.90). The FENE demonstrated theoretical, semantic, and empirical validity, enabling the measurement of Spiritist Involvement as a continuous variable, relevant for clinical and epidemiological research, as well as for planning culturally sensitive mental health public policies.