An Examination of the Ohio Scales, Short Form, Hopefulness Domain, Youth- and Caregiver-Report Versions in a Community Care Setting
Date
2023
Authors
Contributor
Advisor
Department
Instructor
Depositor
Speaker
Researcher
Consultant
Interviewer
Narrator
Transcriber
Annotator
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Volume
Number/Issue
Starting Page
Ending Page
Alternative Title
Abstract
Hope theorists posit that the construct of “Hopefulness” can be a positive indicator of overall wellness. Research suggests that higher levels of hopefulness have been associated with positive treatment outcomes (e.g., lower behavioral difficulties). However, few studies have examined the role of hopefulness with multiethnic youth, and it is unclear whether extant findings are generalizable to these populations. Further, despite the growing literature on the potential clinical value brought by assessing caregiver perspectives on youth treatment, there is a lack of psychometric investigations on hopefulness measures capturing both caregiver and youth perspectives. As the only measure assessing hopefulness from a multi-stakeholder perspective, the Ohio Scales, Hopefulness Scale (OS Hopefulness Scale), provides a unique opportunity to contribute to the literature by examining the role of youth- and caregiver-reported hopefulness in treatment.
Along these lines, the current study centered on examining the utility of this free four-item measure of hopefulness (i.e., OS Hopefulness Scale) within a large statewide public mental health care system. Collectively, the six aims of this study (done for both youth- and caregiver-report versions) examined the measure’s (a) factor structure and (b) internal consistency, along with (c) the relationship between youth- and caregiver-reported hopefulness. Additionally, we explored the measure’s relationships with (d) numerous domains of psychopathology (e.g., depression, anxiety, delinquency), and (e) youth functioning. Lastly, (f) change over time in response to treatment delivery was also investigated. Participants included a total of 1,036 youth receiving services through the Hawai'i Child and Adolescent Mental Health Division’s system of care from 2014 to 2020, who were ethnically diverse (30.6% multiethnic, n = 317), 60.4% male (n = 626), with an average age of 12.8 (SD = 3.5). As a whole, the study found good factor structure, acceptable internal consistency, and a significant positive association between youth-reported and caregiver-hopefulness. Additionally, significant inverse relationships were found between caregiver-reported hopefulness with youth mental health problems and youth functioning (more hopefulness related to less problems and functional impairment); while youth-reported hopefulness was found to be significantly inversely related to youth mental health problems but not youth functioning. Finally, significant positive changes in hopefulness and significant relationships with youth functioning were also evident at three-month follow up for both youth- and caregiver-reported hopefulness. The constellation of my findings demonstrates potential for this four-item measure of hopefulness to be a useful, efficient, and cost-effective tool with ethnically diverse samples, which are substantially different from samples included in previous studies of hopefulness. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.
Description
Keywords
Clinical psychology, Psychology, Dissemination & Implementation, Measurement-Based Care, Psychometric, System of Care
Citation
Extent
Format
Geographic Location
Time Period
Related To
Related To (URI)
Table of Contents
Rights
All UHM dissertations and theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission from the copyright owner.
Rights Holder
Local Contexts
Collections
Email libraryada-l@lists.hawaii.edu if you need this content in ADA-compliant format.