DSE-B-03

HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY
ADULT HOPE SCALE (AHS)

PRESENTED BY
DR. JHUMA MUKHERHEE
 GENERAL PROBLEM: On Hope
SPECIFIC PROBLEM: To determine the level of hope in your testee using a
suitable test.

BASIC
CONCEPT
WHO (1947) DEFINITION OF HEALTH
 WHO leaders proposed a more progressive definition of health: Health is the state of
complete physical, mental, and social well-being, not just the absence of disease or
infirmity.
 This new definition definitively rejected the old Bio medical model which proposes that all
diseases or physical disorders can be explained by disturbances in physiological processes,
which result from injury, biochemical imbalances, bacterial or viral infection, and the like
(Engel, 1977; Leventhal, Prohaska, & Hirschman, 1985).
The biomedical model assumes that disease is an affliction of the body and is separate from
the psychological and social processes of the mind
 
 The definition provided by WHO views health as a
multidimensional concept.
 The four dimensions and components of health being
physical, mental ,social and spiritual, the emphasis is on
proper balance among the four components of health.
 Alongside prevention, the public health model began to
emphasize health promotion; that is, policies and
programs that promote and help maintain behaviors known
to support good health.
Determinants of Health
The concept of Positive Psychology was officially described in a ground breaking paper by
Martin Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in the year 2000. These prominent researchers
and clinicians had become dissatisfied with the predominant view of focusing on the
reduction of clients’ negative thoughts and behaviors as the best way to improve mental
health.  They suggested that “building up the good in life, rather than just repairing the bad”,
may be a better approach.”  Generally speaking, positive psychology focuses on the positive
aspects in life, such as happiness, gratitude, resilience, compassion, and love.

According to an article reviewing Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi’s seminal work, the primary
purpose of Positive Psychology, “is to measure, understand, and then build human strengths
and civic virtues, including hope, wisdom, creativity, courage, spirituality, responsibility,
perseverance, and satisfaction.” It is important to note however, that positive psychology
does not seek to ignore or deny negative experiences, but to help reframe one’s perspective
on them.
Health Benefits of Positive Psychology
Research shows that concentrating on the positive qualities of life experiences and
cultivating a positive mindset results in mental, emotional, and physical health benefits.
Positive attitudes, such as expressing gratitude, are associated with a person’s overall
sense of well-being, It is also shown to relieve depression, improve relationships, work
performance.

It makes sense that maintaining a positive attitude will benefit mental and emotional
health, but it may also improve physical health. It is well-established that a positive
mood impacts immune function, and negativity is depressive to the immune system. For
example, positivity has been shown to decrease susceptibility to the common cold.  In a
series of studies involving HIV patients, those who were more optimistic about their
lives and future exhibited significantly reduced disease progression compared to those
who were not. 
Hope is defined as the perceived capability to derive pathways to desired goals, and motivate oneself
via agency thinking to use those pathways. Hope theory is compared to theories of learned optimism,
optimism, self-efficacy, and self-esteem. Higher hope consistently is related to better outcomes in
academics, athletics, physical health, psychological adjustment, and psychotherapy. In this context,
hope theory was described by Charles Richard Snyder who was an American psychologist specialised
in positive psychology. He garnered international fame for his work in clinical, social, personality, and
health psychology. His theories from the ’80s and ’90s relate to, among other things, human responses
to personal feedback, human need for uniqueness and the hope motive.
Hope can be seen as the perceived ability to walk certain paths leading to a desired destination. In
addition, hope helps people stay motivated when walking these paths. Hope consists of both cognitive
elements and affective elements. Snyder’s Hope Theory includes goals, paths, and freedom of choice.
According to him, there are at least three components that people can relate to hope, being: focused
thoughts, strategies in advance in order to achieve these goals, motivation to make the effort required
to actually reach these goals. The more the individual believes in their own ability to achieve these
components, the greater the chance that they will develop a feeling of hope.
Goals are abstract but have the power to guide human behaviour. Snyder noticed that much of
human behaviour is goal-oriented. In addition to the previously mentioned components, Snyder’s
Hope Theory therefore distinguishes two other important factors that influence movement towards
the goal: Pathways thinking and Agency Thinking. Pathways thinking is the cognitive ability to
generate different pathways from the present to the desired future. Pathways focus on the
perceived ability to plan multiple routes. Agency thinking refers to the level of intention,
confidence, and ability to actually follow those different pathways to the desired future. The belief
and positive motivation to follow the path are the key aspects of agency thinking. The goals
themselves also play an important role in Snyder’s Hope Theory. Goals that are valuable but
uncertain are described as the anchors of Snyder’s Hope Theory. They offer direction and guide a
person to the final destination. Barriers can also play a role. They may make it difficult to reach the
goals. If there’s a barrier, an easy solution would be to quit unless Pathways Thinking is
strengthened to create a new pathway. Goals are reached more easily if emotions are positive. In
many cases barriers lead to negative emotions. By coming up with new, alternative pathways, the
conviction and motivation from Agency Thinking is reactivated, making it possible to reach the
goal sooner. Barriers are then considered challenges, not permanent roadblocks. The key in
Snyder’s Hope Theory requires different pathways to a goal and the intention to stick to those
paths. It’s about a cyclical relationship between Pathways and Agency Thinking, with Pathways
Thinking leading to more routes. The development of more routes in turn leads to Agency
Thinking and positive emotions. The present study aims to test the hope level of the testee using
the Adult Hope Scale (Snyder, Irving, & Anderson, 1991)
PRELIMINARIES:
Name:
Age:
Qualification:
Condition:
Date of testing:
Time of testing:
MATERIALS REQUIRED: Adult Hope Scale, Scoring standards, stationeries
DESCRIPTION OF THE TEST:
The adult hope scale (AHS) measures Snyder's cognitive model of hope which defines hope as "a positive
motivational state that is based on an interactively derived sense of successful (a) agency (goal-directed energy),
and (b) pathways (planning to meet goals)" (Snyder, Irving, & Anderson, 1999). The adult hope scale is a 12-
item measure of respondent’s level of hope for people above 15 years of age. Four items measure pathways
thinking, four items measure agency thinking, and four items are given as distracters. Participants respond to
each item using 8-point Likert type scale in which response categories range from Definitely False, Mostly False,
Somewhat False, Slightly False to Slightly True, Somewhat True, Mostly True, Definitely True. The scale takes
only a few minutes to complete. It should be noted that the authors recommend that when administering the
scale, it is called “The Future Scale”.
Confirmatory factor analysis was employed to test several psychometric hypotheses regarding the Hope Scale.
Across four large samples of college students, a two-factor (agency and pathways) model of hope reproduced the
observed data consistently better than did a one-factor model. Support also was found for the tenability of a
higher-order latent construct overarching these two factors. Neither the assumption of parallel nor tau-equivalent
measures were met, however, suggesting that the items within a given factor are not interchangeable. Reliability
estimates of (1) the items as indicators of the first-order construct, and (2) the first-order constructs as indicators
of the higher-order latent variable also are presented (Babyak, M. A., Snyder, C. R., & Yoshinobu, L. 1993)
The reliability and validity of the Adult Hope Scale was examined among older adults with and without
cognitive impairment who were recently admitted to a nursing home. Sixty-four recently admitted
nursing home residents, 32 of whom had cognitive impairment, were administered the Adult Hope Scale
and measures of concurrent and divergent validity. The Adult Hope Scale demonstrated good to
excellent reliability in the given sample. The Adult Hope Scale also correlated as expected with
measures of concurrent and divergent validity, thus supporting the validity of the scale to measure hope
in older adults despite level of cognitive functioning. This study shows that the Adult Hope Scale is a
reliable and valid measure of hope in this sample of older adults with and without cognitive impairment.
Given the small sample size, additional research on the psychometric properties of the utility of the
Adult Hope Scale in older adults with and without cognitive impairment is warranted. These preliminary
findings allow future researchers and clinicians to consider administration of the Adult Hope Scale to
individuals with and without cognitive impairment living in long-term care facilities. Gathering
additional data on the psychometrics of this measure will enable new directions in research involving
self-report measures for older adults with cognitive impairment, and in the development of interventions
involving hope to improve physical and mental health in long-term care residents.(DiGasbarro, Midden,
Haitsma, Meeks, Mast, 2019
 PROCEDURE: Rapport was established with the teste and the teste was given the instructions
verbally. The test was administered as “The Future Scale” when instructions were read out.
Teste was required to indicate his response from among the 8 response categories for all the 12
items. After completion of administration, the scores of the subscales were added up separately
as well as all together to give the pathways and agency thinking scores and total score
respectively.

SCORING STANDARDS: The scale is divided into two sub-scales that comprise Snyder’s
cognitive model of hope: (1) Agency (i.e., goal-directed energy) and (2) Pathways (i.e.,
planning to accomplish goals). Agency thinking (goal-directed energy) subscale-Items 2, 9, 10,
and 12 make up the agency subscale. Scores range from a 4 to a 32 for agency thinking. Higher
scores reflect higher agency thinking. Pathways thinking (planning to accomplish goals)
subscale- Items 1, 4, 6, and 8 make up the pathway subscale. Scores range from a 4 to a 32 for
pathway thinking. Higher scores reflect higher pathways thinking. Researchers can either
examine results at the subscale level or combine the two subscales to create a total hope score.
Scores of 40 – 48 are hopeful, 48 – 56 moderately hopeful, and 56 or higher as high hope
 INSTRUCTION: As provided in the questionnaire

RESULT TABLE:

SUBSCALES SCORE REMARK

Agency Thinking

Pathway Thinking

Full Scale
INTERPRETATION:
Higher agency thinking corresponds to greater belief and confidence in onseself to achieve goals. It
reflects higher levels of self-esteem and sense of competence.

Higher pathways thinking correspond to greater ability to design ways to reach one’s goals. It
reflects higher levels of planning ability, motivation and exercise of subsequent efforts to navigate
the paths to reach the goals.

Higher score on the full scale indicates greater optimism and self-efficacy to create realistic goals,
accomplish the goals through judicious planning and overcome barriers in reaching the desired
goals.

CONCLUSION:
The present teste’s level of hope is determined using the Adult Hope Scale (Snyder, Irving, &
Anderson, 1991). It has been observed that the agency thinking score is ______, the pathways
thinking score is ________ and the total score is ________
 REFFERENCES

 Adult Hope Scale- Synder, C.R., Harris, C., Anderson, J.R., Holleran, S.A., Irving, L.M., Sigmon, S.T. et. al
(1991). The will and the ways: Development and validation of an individual differences measure of hope. Journal
of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 570-585.
 Snyder, C.R. (2002).Hope theory: Rainbows in the mind. Psychological Inquiry, 13,249-275
 Everson, S.A. Goldberg,D.E. Kaplan, G.A., Cohen R.D. Pukkala,E.Tuomilehto J., & Salonen J.T (1996).
Hopelessness and Risk of mortality and incidence of myocardial infarction and cancer. Psychosomatic Medicine,
58, 113-121
 Babyak,M.A., Snyder, C.R., & Yoshinobu, L. (1993). Psychometric properties of the Hope Scale: A Confirmatory
factor analysis. Journal of Research in Personality,27, 154-169.
 DiGasbarro, D. Midden,A. Haitsma, K.V. Meeks,S. Mast, B. (2019). Reliability and Validity of the Adult Hope
Scale among Nursing Home Residents with and without Cognitive Impairment. Clin Gerontol May-Jun
2020;43(3):340-349. doi: 10.1080/07317115.2019.1656696. Epub 2019 Aug 27.
 Snyder, C.R., Harris, C., Anderson, J.R., Holleran, S.A., Irving, L.M., Sigmon, S.T., &… Harney, P. (1991). The
will and the ways: Development and validation of an Individual-differences measure of hope. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 570- 585.
 Hellman, C. M., Pittman, M. K., & Munoz, R. T. (2014). The first twenty years of the will and the ways: An
examination of score reliability distribution on Snyder’s dispositional hope scale. Journal of Happiness Studies, 14,
723-729
 The (Hope) Future Scale
______________________________________________________________________________ Read each item
carefully. Using the scale shown below, please select the number that best describes you and put that number in the blank
provided.
1=Definitely False 5= Slightly True
2=Mostly False 6=Somewhat True
3=Somewhat False 7=Mostly True
4=Slightly False . 8=Definitely True

___ 1. I can think of many ways to get out of a jam.

___ 2. I energetically pursue my goals.
___ 3. I fell tired most of the time.
___ 4. There are lots of ways around any problem.
___ 5. I am easily downed in an argument.
___ 6. I can think of many ways to get the things in life that are most important to me.
___ 7. I worry about my health
. ___ 8. Even when others get discouraged, I know I can find a way to solve the problem.
___ 9. My past experiences have prepared me well for my future
. ___ 10. I’ve been pretty successful in life.
___ 11. I usually find myself worrying about something.
___ 12. I meet the goals that I set for myself.
Agency: ___________

Add Scores on items: 2, 9, 10 and 12. Scores range from a 4 to a 32. Higher scores reflect
higher agency.

Pathways: __________

Add scores on items: 1, 4, 6 and 8. . Scores range from a 4 to a 32. Higher scores reflect higher
pathways thinking.

Total Hope Score: ___________

(Add Score for Pathways to the Score for Agency) Add the agency and pathway scores. Scores
of 40 – 48 are hopeful, 48 – 56 moderately hopeful, and 56 or higher as high hope.