Reliability and validity of the Norwegian version of the Nowotny Hope Scale - A nursing tool for measuring hope in cancer patients

The purpose of the present study was to assess the reliability and Validity of the Norwegian Version of the Nowotny Hope Scale as applied to cancer patients. The questionnaire was first translated into Norwegian following internationally accepted guidelines. The scale was tested on a sample consisting of 131 newly diagnosed cancer patients. The findings supported the internal consistency of the instrument as a whole (alpha = 0.89) and of the six subscales: confidence (alpha = 0.85), relates to others (alpha = 0.75), future is possible (alpha = 0.80), spiritual beliefs (alpha = 0.94), active involvement (alpha = 0.53) and comes from within (alpha = 0.80). Stability over time was provided by a satisfactory 3-4-week test-retest correlation (r = 0.81). The validity was confirmed by the judgement of an expert and by a principal components analysis with orthogonal rotation. The result of the factor analysis was somewhat different from the original findings in an American sample. The results obtained in this study are promising and indicate that the Nowotny Hope Scale can be used to measure hope in newly diagnosed Norwegian cancer patients.