Perceived and Dispositional Hope as Health-Related Constructs: Adaptation and Validation of the Polish Version of the Perceived Hope Scale

<b>Background</b>: The effectiveness of treatment depends on recognizing the needs and limitations of patients. Hope is a personal resource that facilitates the treatment and recovery process. Dispositional hope encompasses goal-directed action, whereas perceived hope lacks reference to specific content or behavior. This study examined which construct is more strongly related to psychological, physical, and emotional health. Perceived hope requires a new tool for measurement. Adaptation to the Polish cultural context is the second goal of this research. <b>Methods</b>: Data were collected in the international online study Barometer of Hope (n = 1608). Adult participants completed the PSH, ADHS, and a battery of self-report questionnaires assessing several key well-being outcomes. <b>Results</b>: Perceived hope appears to be a more salient construct related to psychological health than dispositional hope, although both aspects of hope demonstrate similar associations with physical health. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) supported the hypothesized one-factor structure of the Polish version of the Perceived Hope Scale (PHS-PL), indicating high internal consistency as well as strong convergent and discriminant validity. The PHS-PL showed positive correlations with optimism, life satisfaction, happiness, positive affect, and dispositional hope, and negative correlations with depression/anxiety, loneliness, and negative affect. Additionally, perceived hope was negatively associated with the likelihood of a crisis scenario and positively associated with the likelihood of a flourishing scenario. <b>Conclusions</b>: Our findings confirm that hope is a health-enhancing resource. The PHS is a simple, short, culturally universal method that directly measures hope and can also be successfully used by non-psychologists, such as nurses, physicians, and caregivers.