Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-2012

Publication Title

Research on Social Work Practice

Volume

22

Issue

3

Abstract

The Employment Hope scale (EHS) was designed to measure the empowerment-based self-sufficiency (SS) outcome among low-income job-seeking clients. This measure captures the psychological SS dimension as opposed to the more commonly used economic SS in workforce development and employment support practice. The study validates the EHS and reports its psychometric properties. Method: An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted using an agency data from the Cara Program in Chicago, United States. The principal axis factor extraction process was employed to identify the factor structure. Results: EFA resulted in a 13-item two-factor structure with Factor 1 representing “Psychological Empowerment” and Factor 2 representing “Goal-Oriented Pathways.” Both factors had high internal consistency reliability and construct validity. Conclusions: While findings may be preliminary, this study found the EHS to be a reliable and valid measure, demonstrating its utility in assessing psychological SS as an empowerment outcome among low-income jobseekers.

Comments

Author Posting © 2012 The Authors. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Sage Publishing for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Research on Social Work Practice Volume 22, Issue 3, 2012. http://rsw.sagepub.com/content/22/3/323.abstract

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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