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Development of the Social Issues Advocacy Scale-2 (SIAS-2)

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Abstract

The 21-item Social Issues Advocacy Scale (SIAS; Nilsson, Marszalek et al. in Educ Psychol Meas 71(1):258–275, 2011) was developed as a concise measure of social justice advocacy for people in the helping and health professions. Recent scholarship has indicated a need for a broader measure. The present study seeks to continue development of the SIAS into an expanded version, the SIAS-2. A sample of 284 helping and health professionals and college students in related fields was administered 117 items, which was reduced to 78 items for the final instrument through item analysis and exploratory factor analysis. Eight factors emerged explaining 61.5% of the item variance. Corresponding subscales ranged in reliability from .88 to .94. Additional validity evidence is discussed.

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Notes

  1. A third theme identified by Nilsson, Davis, and McCarther (2013) pertained to one’s lived experiences as they shaped commitments to social justice advocacy (e.g., through being the victim of discrimination). While lived experiences are a prevalent theme in other research as well (e.g., Nilsson, Schale, & Brown-Khamphadky, 2011), we felt it represented a precursor to social justice advocacy rather than a core competency of advocacy. Further, researchers in several helping professions have expressed a belief that social justice advocacy can be developed even in those without personal histories of marginalization or oppression (Watts, 2004).

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Funding

This study was funded by a Dean’s Small Grant from the School of Education, University of Missouri–Kansas City (no grant number available).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Counseling and Educational Psychology, UMKC School of Education, University of Missouri-Kansas City, 215 Education Building, 1500 Rockhill Road, Kansas City, MO, 64110-2499, USA

    Jacob M. Marszalek, Carolyn Barber & Johanna E. Nilsson

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  1. Jacob M. Marszalek
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  2. Carolyn Barber
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  3. Johanna E. Nilsson
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Correspondence to Jacob M. Marszalek.

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All authors declared that they have no competing interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

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Marszalek, J.M., Barber, C. & Nilsson, J.E. Development of the Social Issues Advocacy Scale-2 (SIAS-2). Soc Just Res 30, 117–144 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11211-017-0284-3

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