Psychometric and Rash Analysis of the UCLA Loneliness Scale – 16 in a Portuguese Sample of Older Adults

• Autor(a) principal: Faustino, Bruno
• Data de Publicação: 2019
• Outros Autores: Lopes, Paulo Jorge Ferreira, Oliveira, Jorge, Campaioli, Giulia
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10437/12435
• topic: RASH ANALYSIS; PSICOLOGIA; PSICOMETRIA; TERCEIRA IDADE; OLD AGE; PSYCHOMETRICS; PSYCHOLOGY

Loneliness is a serious concern in modern societies, particularly among older adults, while being imperative that clinicians use reliable instruments for an accurate assessment of this problem. This study aims to describe a mixed statistical approach to assess the psychometric properties of the UCLA Loneliness Scale-16 in Portuguese old-aged individuals. The sample comprised 153 individ- uals (59.1% women and 40.3% men), aged 61–98 (M = 78.80, SD = 8.58). The psychometric properties of UCLA Loneliness Scale-16 were analyzed with explora- tory factorial analysis, internal consistency, convergent and divergent validity and through the item response theory. The results suggested a bidimensional structure for this instrument. The scale showed satisfactory psychometric properties with a high internal consistency. In addition, a negative relationship with constructs of social support and functionality was also observed. Overall results suggest that the UCLA Loneliness Scale-16 is a psychometric reliable measure to evaluate social loneliness in the Portuguese elderly population.