Principal components analysis of the Hesitation Scale: More than just social support seeking

The seeking of support from others during times of need is a critical strategy for overcoming challenging life events and ameliorating associated stress. The larger percentage of research examining help-seeking behaviour has been conducted with nonclinical samples, and conclusions remain somewhat unclear due to several limitations, including methodological inconsistencies across studies. The Hesitation Scale (HS) was developed to measure social support seeking in patients with traumatic brain injury but has not undergone thorough psychometric evaluation. The goal of this study primarily was to provide a clearer understanding of the specific aspects of support-seeking behaviour assessed by the HS, which is fundamental to the identification of factors that can be modified through targeted clinical interventions. A principal components analysis of the HS in an outpatient sample of 89 patients with spinal cord injury revealed that although the HS may provide an overall indication of respondents' attitudes and beliefs regarding social support seeking, the six significant extracted components of the scale appear to assess distinct aspects of support seeking behaviour. Results also suggested that the HS may have clinical utility in evaluating social support seeking in individuals with spinal cord injury.