Abstract
Investigations of self-acceptance are critical to understanding the development and maintenance of psychological health. However, valid and reliable instruments for measuring self-acceptance in persons with early blindness have yet to be developed. The current research describes three studies designed to develop and validate the Self-acceptance Scale for Persons with Early Blindness (SAS-EB). In Study 1, we developed the initial item pool. Thirty-three items were generated, based on data from specialized literature and from 2 focus groups. Items were organized in a three-factor structure, theoretically predicted for SAS-EB - (1) body acceptance, (2) self-protection from social stigmas, and (3) feeling and believing in one's capacities. In Study 2, information obtained from a panel of 9 experts and 22 persons with early blindness representing the target population was used to refine the initial item pool, generating a new pool of 27 items. In Study 3, 318 persons with early blindness (141 women and 177 men), between 18 and 60 years of age (M = 37.74 years, SD = 12.37) answered the new pool of 27 items. After the elimination of 9 items using confirmatory factor analysis, we confirmed the theoretical three-factor structure of the SAS-EB. Study 3 also provided support for the scale's internal consistency and construct validity. Finally, the psychometric properties of the SAS-EB, its utility, and its limitations are discussed along with considerations for future research.
Highlights
Self-acceptance is an important concept in understanding the development of psychological health [1,2-3]
The experts review resulted in the rewording of 21 items, the deletion of 7 items that were considered of low relevance in content or were redundant, and the inclusion of 1 item, leaving a total of 27 items
These 27 items formed the second and adjusted version of the Scale for Persons with Early Blindness (SAS-EB), which was used in the subsequent pretest
Summary
Self-acceptance is an important concept in understanding the development of psychological health [1,2-3]. It is defined as an individual’s acceptance of all of his/her attributes, positive or negative. 59) as ‘‘expressing comfort with and love for the body, despite not being completely satisfied with all aspects of the body’’. Another important attitude is ‘‘self-protection from negative judgments from others’’, which consists in a lack of concern that others are judging oneself negatively [7,8]. The third attitude focuses on ‘‘feeling and believing in one’s capacities’’, which includes recognizing, appreciating and developing positives thoughts and feelings about one’s capacities and realizations [9,10]
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