Psychometric properties of the Perceived Social Support Questionnaire (PSSQ), a new measure of perceived social support among older adults

Abstract

Objective

Based on literature and available questionnaires, the present study aimed at creating and validating the Perceived Social Support Questionnaire (PSSQ): a 4-item scale assessing the perceived social support in older adults. Normative scores were also computed.

Methods

Three hundred and two participants (mean age 87.68) selected from ongoing population-based studies completed a phone interview. Among these, 247 completed a second interview 4 months later allowing assessing the questionnaire fidelity over time.

Results

The factor analysis evidenced two dimensions: availability of social support and satisfaction with it. Both dimensions had a satisfactory internal consistency but weak intraclass correlation coefficient. Univariate analyses revealed that age, number of calls per week and living environment marginally associated with the availability score. The satisfaction score was associated with perceived health status, sadness, depressive mood, feeling of loneliness, anxiety, and the perception of social support during the pandemic context. The norms computed were stratified on age.

Conclusions

The PSSQ is a short and easy-to-administer tool allowing assessing perceived social support in older population. Despite a weak fidelity that could actually be explained by changes in perceived social support over time, the questionnaire revealed good psychometric qualities and validity.

Keywords:

• Social support
• geriatrics
• norms
• psychometrics
• questionnaire

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Agency Research “Agence Nationale de la Recherche” and Fondation de France under Grant [ANR-20-COVI-0010-01].