Measuring elderly people's quality of life through the Beck Hopelessness Scale: a study with a Spanish sample.

6533b82bfe1ef96bd128d821

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Measuring elderly people's quality of life through the Beck Hopelessness Scale: a study with a Spanish sample.

Juan C. Meléndez Juan Pedro Serrano José Miguel Latorre Alicia Sales Laura Ros Encarna Satorres

subject

Male Suicide Prevention Aging Psychometrics media_common.quotation_subject Poison control Pessimism Suicide prevention Frustration Suicidal Ideation 03 medical and health sciences 0302 clinical medicine Quality of life (healthcare)Injury prevention Humans media_common Aged Psychiatric Status Rating Scales Motivation Depression Human factors and ergonomics Reproducibility of Results Middle Aged humanities Confirmatory factor analysis 030227 psychiatry Psychiatry and Mental health Suicide Early Diagnosis Spain Beck Hopelessness Scale Quality of Life Female Geriatrics and Gerontology Pshychiatric Mental Health Psychology Factor Analysis Statistical Gerontology 030217 neurology & neurosurgery Clinical psychology

description

Hopelessness is a key element of suicidal intent. It can instill a pessimistic outlook on the future, leading an individual to believe that suicide is the only answer to their problems. Hopelessness operates as a modulating variable between depression and suicidal behavior. The aim of this study was to confirm the factor structure of the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS) in a non-clinical sample.Three hundred and sixty-two Spanish individuals, aged over 60, free of cognitive impairment and depressive symptoms, completed the BHS scale. Participants were tested using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), using one-, two- and three-factor models.The one- and two-factor models presented adequate fit indices. Specifically, the indices of the two-factor models were better than those of the one-factor model. The two-factor model, without items 4, 9 and 14, provided the best fit, given that the indices obtained in the CFA and their internal consistency were better than those of the other models.The validation of the BHS for a population of Spanish older adults provides a reliable and valid measure of hopelessness and could be useful in clinical practice and research as an effective tool for the early detection of suicidal behaviors.

year	journal	country	edition	language
2016-10-28	Agingmental health

10.1080/13607863.2016.1247427 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27786537