Hope: A Comparison of Two Self-Report Measures for Adults

The importance of hope has been noted by both physicians and by psychotherapists. The construct, hope, has -both cognitive and affective aspects. This article describes two self-report measures of hope that differentially assess these two aspects. The Expected Balance Scale (EBS), modeled after Bradburn's Affective Balance Scale, measures expected positive feelings and its separate scales measure optimism and pessimism. The Hope index, based on the interactions of wishes and expectations, is a better measure of the cognitive component of hope. Descriptive statistics for the two measures are promising.