Development of an exploratory version of the Attitudes Towards People in a Homeless Situation Questionnaire: Factor structure and psychometric properties study

• Autor(a) principal: Cardoso, Andreia
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Galhardo, Ana, Massano-Cardoso, Ilda, Cunha, Marina
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: https://doi.org/10.31211/rpics.2021.7.1.209
• topic: Questionnaire on Attitudes towards the Homeless Population; Attitudes; Homeless; Factor structure; Psychometric characteristics; Questionário de Atitudes em Relação à População em Situação de Sem-Abrigo; Atitudes; Sem-abrigo; Estrutura fatorial; Características psicométricas

Objective: Short self-report measures contemplating the three attitudinal components (cognitive, behavioural, and emotional) towards the homeless population are scarce. The current study aimed to develop and study an exploratory version of a new questionnaire targeting attitudes towards homeless people. Method: The sample comprised 361 participants from the general population. Participants completed five self-report instruments, including the Questionnaire on Attitudes Toward Homeless People (QARPSSA). Results: Exploratory factor analysis of the QARPSSA led to the removal of 15 items resulting in a 17-items final version. A confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the three-factor tested model showed a good adjustment quality: CFI = .90; GFI = .92; RMSEA = .07 and MECVI = 1.02. Only the normalised chi-square adjustment index showed a poor fit to the data (X2 / df = 2.51). The average extracted variance was .49, a value higher than the square of the correlations between the factors (.002 to .25), being suggestive of discriminant validity. Reliability analysis revealed a Cronbach's alpha value of .77 and composite reliability of .91. Conclusions: This exploratory version of the QARPSSA proved to be a valid and reliable instrument for assessing attitudes towards the homeless population, which can be used in several contexts.