International Journal of Basic Sciences & Applied Research. Vol., 3 (9), 579-581, 2014
Available online at http://www.isicenter.org
ISSN 2147-3749 ©2014
The Relationship of Optimism and Hopefulness in Hospital Employees
Razieh Aminosadat, Ramezan Hassanzadeh*, Sedigheh Ebrahimi
Department of Psychology, Sari Branch, Islamic Azad University, Sari, Iran
*Corresponding
Author Email: rhassanzadehd@yahoo.com
Abstract
The relationship among hope and optimism was investigated. The research design used 108
participants. The questionnaire booklet given to students contained the Life Orientation Test
Revised (LOT-R) and The Adult State Hope Scale. Results showed positive correlate between
optimism and hopefulness in hospital employees. While these scores were significantly
correlated, only 37 % of the variance in hope scores was explained by the variation in
optimism scores. Optimistic people suffer less health problems and mental confusion and
socially compatible and are hopeful, to people who are at a lower level of sense of humour. It
makes sense to diminish some communication barriers such as intellectual ossification,
negativism, personalization, extreme sensitivity, lack of constructive expression, anger, low
self-esteem, and so on; that in the whole, person will have less interpersonal problems.
Hopelessness leads to weak problem solving skills. Based on results of this study we suggest
that effects of optimism investigated in other areas such as prevention and treatment of
depression, coping, improving mental health and academic achievement and stress.
Keywords: Optimism, Hopefulness, Employees.
Introduction
Recently there has been a shift in psychological research from investigations of pathology to examination of the positive
aspects about human nature. The shift has been seen by many as providing a more complete conceptualization of psychology:
According to Seligman (1998), psychology should be as focused on strength as on weakness, and as concerned with promoting
well-being as with resolving pathology. Looking at characteristics displayed by people who do not suffer any pathology allows a more
complete picture of the way human nature functions. Characteristics such as optimism and hope are variables considered beneficial
to physical and psychological well-being and are characteristics usually associated with positive psychology (Scheier et al., 1994a).
Optimism can be defined as the tendency to believe that one will generally experience good versus bad outcomes in life. It is
generally accepted that this belief is a stable individual characteristic (Scheier & Carver, 1985). According to this view, optimists are
people who expect future outcomes to be positive. Optimism has been shown to play a role in positive mood, perseverance, good
problem solving, and academic and occupational success (Peterson, 2000).
According to Snyder, hope can be defined as a combination of (a) the thoughts individuals have about their ability to develop
pathways to their goals and (b) a sense of personal agency about reaching their goals. In his research, Snyder found that people
tend to think in terms of goals and are usually trying to find routes to those goals. In other words, people are continually thinking
about how they can link their present to their imagined futures. People appear to have thoughts about their abilities to produce
routes to goals and their capacities to find the motivation to pursue their goals (Snyder, 2002b).
The constructs of optimism and hope appear at first glance to be synonymous. The theories are similar in that both optimism
and hope are goal-oriented cognitive processes that influence the outcomes of events. However, the theory of optimism emphasizes
agency-like thought, whereas hope theory emphasizes agency and pathways thinking equally (Snyder, 2002b). Optimism and hope
are part of the regulation of personally important situations and goals (Wrosch & Sheier, 2003). Being successful in challenging
situations, particularly in academic domains, requires being able to generate multiple pathways to goals, as well as the belief that
one is capable of using those pathways (Snyder et al., 2002a). Researchers have proposed that optimism and hope are related to
agency thought, but that hope goes over and above with its addition of the pathways aspect of goal achievement (Peterson, 2000).
In fact, the Hope Scale, when compared to the Life Orientation Test Revised (LOT-R), accounts for additional variance in predicting
several variables (Snyder, 2002a). The current study has been designed to examine optimism and hope relationships to hospital
employees.
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Intl. J. Basic. Sci. Appl. Res. Vol., 3 (9), 579-581, 2014
Methodology
The research design used 108 participants based on Krejce and Morgan (1986). The questionnaire booklet given to students
contained the the Life Orientation Test Revised (LOT-R) and The Adult State Hope Scale.
Instrumentation
Domain specific hope scale (DSHS)
The DSHS measures an individual’s level of dispositional hope in relation to 6 life areas– social, academic, family, romance /
relationships, work / occupation, and leisure activities. Scoring: respondents are asked to rate the importance of and satisfaction in
the 6 life areas using Likert scales (ranging from 0 to 100). For each life area, respondents are also asked to rate the extent to which
the item applies to them on an 8-point Likert scale (1=Definitely False, 8=Definitely True). A total score for the DSHS is obtained by
summing the scores across the 48 items. Scores for each of the life areas can be obtained by summing the 8 items within each life
area. Reliability: The DSHS demonstrates adequate internal consistency with an overall alpha of .93, and alphas for the life areas
ranging from .86 to .93. Validity: demonstrates adequate concurrent construct validity.
Miller hopefulness questionnaire
This test is a diagnostic test that contains 48 questions; it is an aspect of hopefulness and frustration that the mentioned items
have been chosen based on overt or covert behavioral manifestations in hopeful or desperate people. The questionnaire range is
based on the Likert scale (strongly disagree with score 1 …. strongly agree with score 5), in which each person scores by selecting a
sentence that describes his conditions correctly. The range of obtained scores is variable from 48 to 240 and if one earns 48 scores,
he is considered completely helpless and the score of 240 indicates maximum hopefulness. Scores below 144 indicate low
hopefulness and scores above 144 show high hopefulness.
12 questions of Miller questionnaire (11, 13, 16, 18, 25, 27, 28, 31, 33, 34, 38 and 39) consist of negative items and their
evaluation and scoring are calculated reversely. Many studies have reported acceptable validity (Gholami et al., 2010) of the
questionnaire and the reliability of the questionnaire has been calculated by Cronbach's alpha and bisection methods respectively as
0.9 and 0.89 (Naderi & Hosseni, 2010).
Results
Optimism index
Mean of optimism score in participants was 37.2, maximum and minimum score was 47 and 31 respectively, with SD=4.803
that descriptive analysis showed in table 1.
Table 1. Descriptive analysis of optimism index for participants.
Variable
Optimism
N
108
Mean
37.2
Min
31
Max
47
SD
4.803
Hopefulness index
Descriptive analysis showed that mean of hopefulness in hospital employees is 316.3 and has SD=33.81, while maximum and
minimum score was 381 and 216, respectively (Table 2).
Table 2. Descriptive analysis of hopefulness index for participants.
Variable
Hopefulness
N
108
Mean
316.3
Min
216
Max
381
SD
33.81
Relationship between hopefulness and optimism
Pearson coefficient showed that between hopefulness and optimism is significance correlation. But coefficient rate is relatively
low (0.37) that showed with increase in optimism, employees hopefulness is increased (Table 3).
Table 3. Pearson coefficient between hopefulness and optimism.
Hopefulness-optimism
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N
108
R
0.37
df
106
α
0.000
Intl. J. Basic. Sci. Appl. Res. Vol., 3 (9), 579-581, 2014
Discussion and Conclusion
Several of findings suggest important differences between hope and optimism. While these scores were significantly
correlated, only 37 % of the variance in hope scores was explained by the variation in optimism scores. Hope is formally defined as
a positive motivational state that comprises two components which are the agency and pathways components (Rand, 2009). The
agency component is the motivational component of hope that is used to initiate and sustain the movement toward achieving a goal
(Snyder et al., 1991). The pathways component refers to the perceived ability in generating successful routes to attain the given goal
(Snyder et al., 1991). Optimism is defined as a stable tendency to believe that good rather than bad things will happen (Scheier et
al., 1994b). In optimism, the general positive outcome expectation is the central determinant of persistent efforts in attaining the
desired positive goal (Scheier et al., 1994b; Rand, 2009).
The major distinction between the two constructs is that hope emphasizes the individual motivation and perceived successful
pathways that will play an integral part in developing positive outcome expectancies in comparison to optimism in which the focus is
on particular actions that may bring those positive events (Rand, 2009). Specifically, greater hope and optimism would positively
motivate the desired attitude towards achieving a desired outcome (Rand, 2009). Optimistic people suffer less health problems and
mental confusion and socially compatible and are hopeful, to people who are at a lower level of sense of humour. It makes sense to
diminish some communication barriers such as intellectual ossification, negativism, personalization, extreme sensitivity, lack of
constructive expression, anger, low self-esteem, and so on; that in the whole, person will have less interpersonal problems.
Hopelessness leads to weak problem solving skills. Hopelessness cause that patients constantly evaluate their experiences in the
form of negative and results in bad or disturbing to consider problems.
Optimism can be important coping skills for life problems. Snyder (2002a) found that between high hope and positive emotions
and low hope negative emotions there was a significant correlation. Based on results of this study we suggest that effects of
optimism investigated in other areas such as prevention and treatment of depression, coping, improving mental health and academic
achievement and stress.
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