Last update:
   23-Jan-2018
 

Arch Hellen Med, 35(1), January-February 2018, 99-105

ORIGINAL PAPER

Construction and validation of a citizens' awareness on homelessness scale

D. Giatra,1 P. Prezerakos,2 A. Sachlas,3 F. Tzavella2
1Faculty of Nursing, University of the Peloponnese, Sparta,
2Laboratory of Integrated Health Care, Faculty of Nursing, University of the Peloponnese, Sparta,
3Department of Statistics, Athens University of Economics and Business, Athens, Greece

OBJECTIVE Construction and validation of an instrument for assessing the social attitudes and the level of awareness of citizens towards people experiencing homelessness.

METHOD The instrument, the Citizens' Awareness on Homelessness Scale, was constructed in the form of a self-completed questionnaire consisting of 30 items scored on a five point Likert scale, plus one open question. Study of the instrument was conducted in a large Greek municipality from March to April 2016 with 120 participants (response rate: 85.7%). The reliability and the construct validity of the questionnaire were measured.

RESULTS The questionnaire has a good internal consistency (Cronbach's α=0.732). Exploratory factor analysis resulted in statistically significant factors. The average rate of awareness was found to be 59.06±10.47 points.

CONCLUSIONS The study confirmed that the instrument designed to measure the awareness of citizens in relation to homelessness was valid and reliable. The instrument revealed that the awareness of the citizens in the study sample was not high and was not related to demographic characteristics.

Key words: Economic crisis, Homeless, Homelessness, Social exclusion, Social integration.

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