Assessing one’s sense of normalcy: psychometric properties of the subjective normalcy inventory

Abstract

Objectives

Individuals facing a personal challenge, such as age-related memory changes, may feel that their experiences are abnormal or pathological. Previous qualitative research on a group intervention that focuses on memory changes in older adulthood revealed that one of the greatest benefits derived by participants was the realization that their experience with memory changes was normal. In order to quantify this experience, we developed and validated a new measure, the 26-item Subjective Normalcy Inventory (SNI).

Method

Reliability and validity were assessed with a sample of 167 community-dwelling adults between the ages of 55 and 90. Questionnaire responsiveness was assessed with an additional sample of 29 older adults who completed a 5-session memory intervention program known to cultivate normalization.

Results

The SNI exhibited a two-factor structure, excellent test-retest reliability, ICC = .79, excellent internal consistency, Cronbach’s α = .91, and good convergent, |rs| = .46−.58, and discriminant, rs = .02–.06, validity. The measure was also responsive to change, as participants who completed the memory intervention program reported a greater sense of normalcy relative to nonintervention controls, η²_p = 0.17.

Conclusion

The SNI has the potential to provide novel and useful outcome information for interventions designed to improve one’s sense of normalcy and may be applied in both clinical and research settings. The SNI can also be modified, validated, and used to assess subjective normalcy with respect to other personal challenges outside of memory and attention changes.

Keywords:

• Normalization
• intervention
• assessment
• aging
• memory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.