Psychometric properties of Herth Hope Index in a sample of Portuguese Higher education students using a Rasch model.
C. Laranjeira, A. Querido, M. DixeIntroduction
The emergence of positive psychology has led to an increasing number of scholars investigating the influence of positive psychological attributes on mental well-being. The presence of hope, a significant positive psychological attribute, can mitigate the adverse consequences of psychological instability in secondary school students when they encounter stressful situations.
Objectives
This study aims to assess the HHI´s psychometric characteristics in a sample of Portuguese Higher education students using a Rasch model.
Methods
A methodological study was developed using a sample of Portuguese higher education students enrolled at 5 educational institutions. The snowball e-survey was conducted during spring semester of 2020. Participants completed a personal information sheet and the 12-item HHI, which measures various dimensions of hope.
Results
We received 2227 valid responses during the survey activation period. The mean age of the sample was 22.5±6.2 years (range 18–59 years). Most of the participants were female (79.6%) and 0.9% were diagnosed positive for COVID. After removing these three items (#3, #5, #6), the resulting 9-item scale demonstrated acceptable item fit to the model, acceptable unidimensionality (52.4% of the variance explained), acceptable person goodness-of-fit, adequate separation, and no differential item function. HHI was highly reliable with Rasch-equivalent Cronbach’s alpha statistic of 0.886.
Conclusions
The HHI showed strong one-dimensionality, and the goodness-of-fit values were satisfactory for all the items. The study contributes to conceptualizing hope as a unidimensional construct validated through Rasch analysis while acknowledging the ongoing debate on whether hope in non-clinical contexts is state or trait-oriented.
Disclosure of Interest
None Declared