The Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL) is a widely used measure of symptom distress and in particular is a valuable criterion measure in psychotherapeutic drug trials. Its reliability, validity, and sensitivity to change have been well established. However, its factor structure has been subject to much debate. In previous studies a wide range of different factor structum have been found by various researchers. The aim of the present study was to produce a short, less arduous, but acceptably reliable version of HSCL with a replifablc factor structure. The factor structure which was based on a previously described. robust thm-factor version of the HSCL, was established usinga two-step process which began with a two-factor analysis ofthe largest subscales. General Feclings of Dislrss (GFD) and Somatic Distress (SD). This was followed by a three-fastor analysis of xven items from each of three subscales. The robustness of the factor structure of the resultin scale w a revealed by the factor comparison procedure FACTOREP using the responses ofthe three subject groups. Consistent replications were obtained for the two-factor structure of the GFD and S D items. and for the threc-factor structure of the xven GFD. seven SD, and xven Performance Difficuhy (PD) items. The outcome was a 21-item version of the HSCL with excellent psychometric properties, which was subsquently confirmed using a fourth independent group of subjects.The Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL) is a self-report symptom rating inventory consisting of 58 items which was developed primarily as a criterion measure in psychotherapeutic drug trials. It has been found by researchers in the United States to be both a reliable and valid psychoIogical instrument for the measurement of neurotic symptoms (Derogatis, Lipman, Rickels, Uhlenhuth, & Covi.
The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) is a widely used measure of three specific aspects of the burnout syndrome-namely; emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and lack of personal accomplishment. It is rapidly becoming a valued tool in assessment of perceived burnout in human service professionals. Although its reliability and validity are well established, its factor structure is not. In previous studies different researchers have found very different factor solutions. In the present study this problem was solved by principal components analysis of previously published American data and New Zealand data, followed by three- and four-factor varimax rotations. The outcome produced a clear, replicable three-factor solution consistent with that of the MBI authors' descriptions. No replicable four-factor structure was found.
Three-factor first order analyses have been used in the most successful of previous attempts to define the factor and subscale structures of the Maslach Burnout Inventory. It is suggested in the present paper that although a three factor structure has been shown to be the most readily replicable, this result does not exhaust the number of possible replicable factors in the Inventory. Using six independent sets of data drawn from previous studies involving a variety of subjects, the present analysis revealed the somewhat doubtful status of the general factor underlying the total score on the 22 items of the Inventory. In all six sets of data, the 22 items of the Inventory also divided between two clearly replicable factors, the larger of which was tentatively identified as the "Core of Burnout." Responses to the 14 items loading on this factor were subsequently found to divide in turn, into two equally replicable factors. These two factors, together with that differentiated from the "Core of Burnout," were exactly the same as those most frequently identified in previous three factor analyses of the Inventory.
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