The Beck Hopelessness Scale: Psychometric properties in a sample of Iranian medical students with suicidal ideation

INTRODUCTION: Hopelessness has consistently emerged as the strongest predictor of suicide, underscoring the critical need for a reliable measure to assess this construct effectively. The present study aimed to investigate the psychometric properties of the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS) among Iranian medical students with suicidal ideation. METHODS: This study employed a descriptive-correlational design. The statistical population consisted of medical students in Tehran in 2024 who reported suicidal ideation. Through convenience sampling, a sample of 355 medical students was recruited. Data were collected using the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS), Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideation (BSSI), Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), and Tehran Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (TMPS). RESULTS: Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the single-factor structure of the Beck Hopelessness Scale demonstrated good model fit among medical students with suicidal ideation in Tehran. Furthermore, the McDonald's omega indicated a value of 0.92. The BHS exhibited significant correlations with depression (r = 0.61), suicidal ideation (r = 0.53), self-oriented perfectionism (r = 0.29), other-oriented perfectionism (r = 0.21), and socially prescribed perfectionism (r = 0.34; p < .01), thereby supporting its convergent validity. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that the Beck Hopelessness Scale possesses robust psychometric characteristics among medical students experiencing suicidal ideation in Tehran.