Supervisors info:
Κυριακή Μυστακίδου, Καθηγήτρια, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ, Επιβλέπουσα
Νικόλαος Τεντολούρης, Καθηγητής, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Βασίλειος Κουλουλίας, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής, Ιατρική Σχολή, ΕΚΠΑ
Summary:
Introduction: Hope has a very significant role in the management of disease and loss, and among oncology patients, it is very important for explaining the variability of the way patients adopt to cancer and for the effective coping strategy. Until today, there are many different scales for hope, and two very common tools are the “Hearth Hope Scale” and its short form, the “Hearth Hope Index”. This construct has translated into many different languages and their psychometric properties have been validated by many different researchers. However, until today, this tool has not been examined in its Greek version.
The functional value attributed to hope by a large number of scientists, makes its further exploration, through case study, imperative. Case studies are classified in the category of qualitative studies and aim at an in-depth study of a phenomenon.
Aim: The main objective of this project is the investigation of the psychometric properties of the Greek version of the Herth hope index among cancer patients as well as the in-depth investigation of hope through a case study.
Methodology: The basic tool used was the Herth Hope Index, which was translated and validated for its psychometric properties in a sample of 130 oncology patients during their first visit at a palliative care unit. An interpretative phenomenological analysis was used for the case study.
Results: The Herth’s model of the three factors was characterized by unacceptable indices of global adaptation, and thus, this model was rejected for the Greek population. In its place, a new model of also three factors came up, but these three factors were different from those suggested by the creator of HHI. According to the values of the Cronbach’s alpha, the internal consistency for the total score of hope was excellent, while for the factors 1, 2 and 3, the internal consistency was acceptable. After interpretive phenomenological analysis of the case study, 4 thematic units emerged.
Conclusion: The Greek version of the Herth Hope Index is a valid and reliable tool for wide use in the Greek population for the measurement of the levels of hope among Greek oncology patients. The needs that emerged from the case study analysis, mainly concerned the health system, information flow, building a trust relationship with the doctor, psychological and practical needs.
Keywords:
Hope, Palliative care, Herth Hope Index, Psychometric properties, Greek population, Phenomenology
