The will and the ways: Development and validation of an individual-differences measure of hope.

Abstract

Defining hope as a cognitive set that is composed of a reciprocally derived sense of successful (a) agency (goal-directed determination) and (b) pathways (planning of ways to meet goals), an individual-differences measure is developed. Studies demonstrate acceptable internal consistency and test-retest reliability, and the factor structure identifies the agency and pathways components of the Hope Scale. Convergent and discriminant validity are documented, along with evidence suggesting that Hope Scale scores augmented the prediction of goal-related activities and coping strategies beyond other self-report measures. Construct validational support is provided in regard to predicted goal-setting behaviors; moreover, the hypothesized goal appraisal processes that accompany the various levels of hope are corroborated. The importance of hope has long been recognized. In Western culture, the concept of hope was first elaborated in the myth of Pandora. As the story goes, Zeus was angry at Prometheus for stealing fire from the gods. With revenge in mind, Zeus sent Pandora to earth with a box full of evil creatures. Zeus told Pandora not to open the box, yet he knew that her curiosity would soon overwhelm her. As predicted, Pandora eventually opened the lid to look inside. When she did, a swarm of creatures flew out to forever plague humankind: gout, rheumatism, and colic for the body; envy, spite, and revenge for the mind. Only one creature remained in the box when Pandora finally managed to close the lid. That creature was hope, which supposedly makes human cares and troubles seem bearable as we journey toward the myriad of goals in a lifetime (Smith, 1983). Although the Pandora myth extols hope, other writings have characterized it as both a blessing and a curse. Tillich (1965) summarized this view by asserting that "hope is easy for the foolish, but hard for the wise. Everybody can lose himself into The present article is based, in part, on dissertations by Cheri Harris and John R. Anderson, as well as on master's theses by Lauren Yoshinobu, Charyle Langelle, and Pat Harney, all under the supervision of C. R. Snyder at the University of Kansas, and on a master's thesis in progress by June Gibb at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign under the supervision of C. R. Snyder.

Patient hopes for diagnostic genomic sequencing: roles of uncertainty and social status

“…4 Such similarities and differences from prior research suggest that how people prioritize hopes for genomic sequencing may vary by health context. In line with the goal-directed theory of hope, 8,9 participants' uncertainty about their (or their child's) illness and, to a lesser extent, their subjective social status appeared to influence how much and what kinds of information they hoped to learn from WES.…”

“…To obtain a nuanced understanding of the nature of participants' hopes, content analysis was performed on their openended responses about their main hope for information from WES. Based on the goal-directed theory of hope, 9 we hypothesized that more illness uncertainty and a higher subjective social status would be associated with participants hoping for more kinds of information.…”

“…Whereas some have suggested that being hopeful is a relatively stable individual difference, 8,9 others have suggested that patients' hopes can change as a function of adaptation to an illness. 2 Although patients' and parents' hopes for information from WES and genetic counseling were assessed through close-ended and open-ended questions, our methods for measuring and coding hope may not have fully captured the entire scope of the emotional 26 and cognitive 9 aspects of hope.…”

“…7 The goal-directed theory of hope proposes that hope is shaped by people's motivation to pursue a desired outcome (ie, a goal) and their perceived means to do so. 8,9 Those with more motivation and perceived means are posited to have more hope than those with less motivation or perceived means. Given the salience of uncertainty and resource demands (eg, the money, time, and social resources for pursuing medical resolution) in patients with unexplained or undiagnosed conditions, the present study investigated illness uncertainty as a form of motivation and subjective social status as a form of perceived means to predict patients' hopes for information from diagnostic sequencing results.…”

Attrition Rates in a Brazilian Longitudinal Survey on Positive Psychology: Empirical and Methodological Considerations

“…Adult Hope Scale (AHS, Snyder et al, 1991; Brazilian version adapted by Pacico, Bastianello, Zanon, & Hutz, in press). The AHS is a 12-item Likert-type scale (ranging from 1 -totally false to 5 -totally true) with four items assessing agency, four items assessing pathways, and four distracters items that are not considered for analysis.…”