Psychometric examination and factorial validity of a German short form of the Beck Hopelessness Scale in three different samples

Abstract

Background: Hopelessness is a transdiagnostically relevant clinical construct, related to depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicidality. Economic, valid, and reliable assessment of hopelessness is thus crucial for both research and clinical practice. This study aimed at validating a nine-item short version of the Beck Hopelessness Scale in three large German samples of psychiatric inpatients, psychotherapy outpatients, and healthy controls. Methods: Data from N = 2321 participants (86.3 % female, mean age 31.8 years [SD=10.4]) were used to analyze reliability, factorial validity, concurrent and discriminant validity of the BHS-9. Results: Results showed good psychometric characteristics of the BHS-9 in inpatients, supporting its unidimensionality, construct validity, and reliability. However, factorial validity was insufficient in outpatients and controls. Limitations: In the outpatient and control samples, the majority of participants were women. All reported analyses were cross-sectional. Conclusions: The BHS-9 appears to be suitable for assessing hopelessness in psychiatric inpatients. However, the factorial validity of this short instrument in non-inpatient settings should be subject to future studies before its implementation in these person groups can be recommended.

Keywords

• Hopelessness
• Inpatients
• Beck Hopelessness Scale
• Factorial validity