The General Handicapped Attitude Scale (GHAS): a construct validation study.

The construct validity of the General Handicapped Attitude Scale (GHAS) (Bujik, 1986a) was investigated. The results showed that, within a group of 44 spinal cord lesioned patients (lesion levels varying from cervical 4 to lumbar 4), the scores on the GHAS subscales: Acceptance, Social Consequences and Bottom (the "psychicsubstratum") did not correlate with scores for the severity of the handicap. They did however correlate significantly with scores for the personal attitude towards the handicap. The GHAS subscale Help-Independence correlated significantly with both the severity of and the attitude towards the handicap. Dropping 4 out of the 9 items of the GHAS subscale reduced the correlation with the severity of the handicap to an insignificant level, while neither the validity nor the reliability of the scale were seriously impaired.