Values, Ethics and Theoretical Perspectives of the Hartford Social Competency Scale-II: Factorial Structure and Reliability of a Portuguese Version

Abstract

Social work practice with the older population demands assessing gerontological competencies, for which values and ethics are central. This study aimed to test the adjustment of the Portuguese version of the Hartford Geriatric Social Work Competency Scale II subscale— values, ethics and theoretical perspectives (GSWCS-II-VEPT) to a bifactor structure and to analyse its reliability in a sample of social workers. The study enrolled 534 social workers employed in older adults’ care organisations. The confirmatory factorial analysis showed that the items presented factorial loads more than 0.60, and the bifactorial component model fitted well with the data. The two components consisted of ‘nuclear competencies’ and ‘specialised skills’. The GSWCS-II-VEPT presented excellent reliability (Cronbach’s a¼0.90). However, high interfactor correlations demanded the test of a single-factor solution. The single-factor model did not fit the data as well as the two-factor solution, and the Akaike information criterion value was smaller in the two-factor model, indicating a superior fit. The results support adequate psychometric properties of GSWCS-II-VEPT in evaluating ethical skills, values and theoretical perspectives in Portuguese social workers and can be used as a tool for self-evaluation of these professionals’ ethical behaviour.