[Psychometric validation of the brief Humanizar Scale on the meaning of suffering]

To develop the short version of the brief Humanizar Scale, including reducing the dimensionality and the number of items.

The Humanizar Scale (24 items with Likert scale), consists of five factors that give meaning to suffering; significance, punishment, catalyst for change, masochism, inherent to life. A parallel analysis and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) were carried out on a first sample (n=529) and, using a different sample (n=182) the two-dimensional structure of the scale was confirmed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).

The parallel analysis procedure obtained two factors. After the EFA, 15 items were retained with greater than 0.4 commonalities. The CFA confirmed the two-dimensional model including the first factor, the sense of suffering as a change (8 items) and the second, the sense of suffering as a burden (6 items). The goodness of fit were suitable: RMSEA=0.07; SRMR=0.08; CFI=0.96, and GFI=0.99. The weight factor of all items was significant and greater than 0.5. Cronbach Alpha was 0.75 for the first factor, and 0.74 for second. The factors showed a correlation of 0.56 (P<.01). Significant differences were found (P<.05) between the factor means according to beliefs (Christian vs. atheists/agnostics) and practice or not of prayer/meditation, the means being higher for both factors among believers (2 points of difference in each factor) and practitioners of prayer/meditation (3 points for Change factor and 1.5 for Burden factor).

The two-dimensionality and the usefulness of the scale on the meaning of suffering have been well-defined.