Psychometric assessment of scales for measuring loneliness and social isolation: an analysis of the household, income and labour dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Loneliness and social isolation are increasingly recognised as global public health threats, meaning that reliable and valid measures are needed to monitor these conditions at a population level. We aimed to determine if robust and practical scales could be derived for conditions such as loneliness and social isolation using items from a national survey.

Methods

We conducted psychometric analyses of ten items in two waves of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey, which included over 15,000 participants. We used the Hull method, exploratory structural equation modelling, and multidimensional item response theory analysis in a calibration sample to determine the number of factors and items within each factor. We cross-validated the factor str

SUBMITTER: Manera KE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8897757 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature