Allen Kelly-Ann, Arslan Gökmen, Craig Heather, Arefi Sedigheh, Yaghoobzadeh Ameneh, Sharif Nia Hamid
Educational Psychology and Inclusion, Faculty of Education, Monash University, Clayton, Australia.
Centre for Positive Psychology, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, Melbourne University, Melbourne, Australia.
BMC Geriatr. 2021 Mar 29;21(1):211. doi: 10.1186/s12877-021-02115-y.
A sense of belonging is a significant predictor of mental health and well-being in later life. A sense of belonging in childhood and adolescence contributes to a number of adult behavioural and psychological outcomes. A high sense of belonging has been associated with better health, longevity, psychological well-being, and disease recovery.
In this study, the Persian version of the Sense of Belonging Instrument (SOBI) for older adults in Iran was evaluated psychometrically to develop an accurate measure for belonging. Participants in the study were 302 older adults, 60 years old and above, living independently in Iran and chosen through convenience sampling.
An exploratory factor analysis indicated that the four-factor structure, which included 16 items, accounted for 54.12% of the total variance, and was characterized by strong factor loadings, with values ranging from .50 to .87. Thereafter, a confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the four-factor latent structure of the SOBI, providing adequate data-model fit statistics. All latent structures were characterized by adequate-to-strong latent construct (H) internal reliability (α) coefficients.
The Persian version of the SOBI is a useful tool in understanding older adult patients' sense of belonging when living independently within the community. The implications for practice and research are discussed.
归属感是晚年心理健康和幸福的重要预测指标。童年和青少年时期的归属感会影响成年后的一系列行为和心理结果。强烈的归属感与更好的健康状况、长寿、心理健康及疾病康复相关。
在本研究中，对伊朗老年人归属感量表（SOBI）的波斯语版本进行了心理测量学评估，以开发一种准确的归属感测量方法。研究参与者为302名60岁及以上的老年人，他们独立生活在伊朗，通过便利抽样选取。
探索性因素分析表明，包含16个条目的四因素结构占总方差的54.12%，其特征为因素负荷较强，取值范围为0.50至0.87。随后，验证性因素分析证实了SOBI的四因素潜在结构，提供了充分的数据 - 模型拟合统计量。所有潜在结构的潜在结构（H）内部信度（α）系数均为适度到较强。
SOBI的波斯语版本是理解社区中独立生活的老年患者归属感的有用工具。文中讨论了其对实践和研究的意义。
