International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 9, 2018 47
the final report. They were considered to have
given their consent to participate by submitting
the questionnaire.
Instruments
The questionnaire consisted of four parts. The
first part contained questions about age, gender,
the cult or group that the person had left, and
current religious engagement. It also contained
questions about the number of years in the
group, the number of years since the defection,
and whether the participant had been born into
the group or joined it as an adult. On this last
question, participants were asked to decide
themselves, similar to the procedure used in
Buxant and Saroglou’s (2008) study.
The second part of the questionnaire consisted of
the GPA scale (Chambers et al., 1994). This
self-administered questionnaire consists of 28
items, with seven items for each of four
subscales: Compliance, Exploitation, Mind
Control, and Anxious Dependency. The items
are rated from 1 to 5 on a Likert scale ranging
from 1 =not at all characteristic to 5 =very
characteristic. The possible range for each
subscale is from 7 to 35, and for the global
measure the range is from 28 to 140. The total
score is often used to assess the full extent of the
experienced psychological abuse. A high score
indicates high levels of psychological abuse. The
group is considered as being abusive if the mean
value on the total is higher than 3.
We used the Swedish translation of the Spanish
version (GPA-S Almendros, Carrobles,
Rodriguez-Carballeira, Gámez-Guadix et al.,
2012) that was made for a planned Swedish
validation. For the current study, we made one
minor change, explained in the following
content. The Swedish Psychologist Håkan Järvå
did the translation. Ingrid Eng, a professional
translator with English as her main language,
performed the back translation. Then Håkan
Järvå and Ingrid Eng examined the new version
together.
To question 23, “The group believes or implies
its leader is divine,” we added for this study
“. ..or is God's spokesperson.” We did this to
get adequate answers from those who had been
members of groups that would never say a
person can be divine, but in which the leader or
leaders are thought to be able to discern God’s
will and are therefore given a divine authority.
The third part of the questionnaire consisted of
24 questions that were intended to give a
broader picture about the conditions in the group
and how the former members’ lives had been
affected by membership. We did not use these
data in the present study.
The fourth part of the questionnaire consisted of
the Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation–
Outcome Measure (CORE–OM Evans et al.,
2002). The CORE–OM consists of 34 questions
and has four subscales: Subjective Well-Being,
Problems/Symptoms, Life/Social Functioning,
and Risk. The Risk scale can be divided into
Risk to Self and Risk to Others. Participants rate
the items on a 5-point scale ranging from “not at
all” to “most or all the time.” Before the
analyses, the verbal scale was converted to
numbers. Higher scores indicate more
psychological problems. CORE–OM measures a
broad range of psychiatric, social, and functional
aspects of an individual’s life situation (Elfström
et al., 2012) making it suitable for this group.
Comparison Data
To compare the results on CORE–OM in this
study with relevant ratings from other groups,
we used data from two other studies:
• In Elfström, Evans, Lundgren, &Johansson
et al. (2012), we analyzed CORE–OM data
from 229 university students without known
problems. This was a convenience sample in
a university setting.
• In Holmqvist, Ström, and Foldemo (2014),
we reviewed available data from 1,107
patients receiving psychological therapy in
primary care. These patients were referred
from their medical doctors at their primary
care units, or in some cases self-referred.
Common problems were depression and
anxiety disorders.
Results
The internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) for
the whole GPA scale was alpha =.86. For the
subscale Compliance, it was alpha =.71, for
Exploitation, alpha =0.60, for Mind Control,
the final report. They were considered to have
given their consent to participate by submitting
the questionnaire.
Instruments
The questionnaire consisted of four parts. The
first part contained questions about age, gender,
the cult or group that the person had left, and
current religious engagement. It also contained
questions about the number of years in the
group, the number of years since the defection,
and whether the participant had been born into
the group or joined it as an adult. On this last
question, participants were asked to decide
themselves, similar to the procedure used in
Buxant and Saroglou’s (2008) study.
The second part of the questionnaire consisted of
the GPA scale (Chambers et al., 1994). This
self-administered questionnaire consists of 28
items, with seven items for each of four
subscales: Compliance, Exploitation, Mind
Control, and Anxious Dependency. The items
are rated from 1 to 5 on a Likert scale ranging
from 1 =not at all characteristic to 5 =very
characteristic. The possible range for each
subscale is from 7 to 35, and for the global
measure the range is from 28 to 140. The total
score is often used to assess the full extent of the
experienced psychological abuse. A high score
indicates high levels of psychological abuse. The
group is considered as being abusive if the mean
value on the total is higher than 3.
We used the Swedish translation of the Spanish
version (GPA-S Almendros, Carrobles,
Rodriguez-Carballeira, Gámez-Guadix et al.,
2012) that was made for a planned Swedish
validation. For the current study, we made one
minor change, explained in the following
content. The Swedish Psychologist Håkan Järvå
did the translation. Ingrid Eng, a professional
translator with English as her main language,
performed the back translation. Then Håkan
Järvå and Ingrid Eng examined the new version
together.
To question 23, “The group believes or implies
its leader is divine,” we added for this study
“. ..or is God's spokesperson.” We did this to
get adequate answers from those who had been
members of groups that would never say a
person can be divine, but in which the leader or
leaders are thought to be able to discern God’s
will and are therefore given a divine authority.
The third part of the questionnaire consisted of
24 questions that were intended to give a
broader picture about the conditions in the group
and how the former members’ lives had been
affected by membership. We did not use these
data in the present study.
The fourth part of the questionnaire consisted of
the Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation–
Outcome Measure (CORE–OM Evans et al.,
2002). The CORE–OM consists of 34 questions
and has four subscales: Subjective Well-Being,
Problems/Symptoms, Life/Social Functioning,
and Risk. The Risk scale can be divided into
Risk to Self and Risk to Others. Participants rate
the items on a 5-point scale ranging from “not at
all” to “most or all the time.” Before the
analyses, the verbal scale was converted to
numbers. Higher scores indicate more
psychological problems. CORE–OM measures a
broad range of psychiatric, social, and functional
aspects of an individual’s life situation (Elfström
et al., 2012) making it suitable for this group.
Comparison Data
To compare the results on CORE–OM in this
study with relevant ratings from other groups,
we used data from two other studies:
• In Elfström, Evans, Lundgren, &Johansson
et al. (2012), we analyzed CORE–OM data
from 229 university students without known
problems. This was a convenience sample in
a university setting.
• In Holmqvist, Ström, and Foldemo (2014),
we reviewed available data from 1,107
patients receiving psychological therapy in
primary care. These patients were referred
from their medical doctors at their primary
care units, or in some cases self-referred.
Common problems were depression and
anxiety disorders.
Results
The internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) for
the whole GPA scale was alpha =.86. For the
subscale Compliance, it was alpha =.71, for
Exploitation, alpha =0.60, for Mind Control,
