It takes a community to hope: development and validation of the HOPE-4 scale in an Arab-Islamic context

Hope research has been constrained by Western-centric models that prioritize individual agency and pathways, often neglecting relational and transcendent dimensions prominent in collectivist and religious societies.

Using a genetic algorithm, we developed and validated the HOPE-4 scale across two independent samples of Algerian adults (Study 1: N = 338; Study 2: N = 290; total N = 628), comprising four facets: Willpower (agency), Waypower (pathways), Faith-Based Hope (transcendent trust), and Communal Hope (relational solidarity).

Confirmatory factor analysis supported a hierarchical structure with excellent fit, high internal consistency (α = 0.93-0.95; ω = 0.96-0.97), strong convergent validity with established measures of hope and psychological capital, and moderate inter-facet correlations indicating discriminant validity. Based on approximate fit criteria, the scale showed configural, metric, and scalar invariance across gender and age groups. Scores also showed high consistency across demographic groups.

These findings underscore the salience of faith-based and communal hope in Arab-Islamic contexts, extending traditional frameworks and addressing calls for emic instruments. The HOPE-4 provides a robust, culturally attuned tool for hope assessment, with implications for research and interventions in Arabic-speaking populations.