Hope Scale-Short Form: Validation of a Shortened Measure of Hope

Abstract

Hope, the belief that one will achieve goals via pathway generation and perceived agency, is associated with favorable outcomes, including psychological and physical health. Research with physically ill populations and on hope interventions requires a brief measure of hope with minimal burden. We present the development and validation of a shortened hope scale. Participants included 603 undergraduate students (sample 1), and 951 Amazon Mechanical-Turk workers for samples 2 (n = 602), 3 (n = 200), and 4 (n = 149). We confirmed the two-factor model of hope with the Adult Hope Scale and identified the most strongly loaded items for the Hope Scale–Short Form (HS-SF). The resulting HS-SF maintained the two-factor structure and consists of two agency and two pathways items. The HS-SF is strongly correlated with the AHS, demonstrated good test–retest reliability, and convergent validity. The HS-SF is a valid and reliable measure of hope.