Confirmatory Factor Analysis on the Professional Suitability Scale for Social Work Practice

Abstract

Objective: This article presents a validation study to examine the factor structure of an instrument designed to measure professional suitability for social work practice. Method: Data were collected from registered social workers in a provincial mailed survey. The response rate was 23.2%. After eliminating five cases with multivariate outliers, confirmatory factor analysis using maximum likelihood estimation was performed on 285 cases. Results: A 22-item four-factor model achieved an acceptable good fit. Reliability testing results indicate an overall Cronbach’s α valued at .90 and subscale αs ranged between .75 and .89. Conclusion: Findings affirm good-to-excellent internal consistency of the Professional Suitability scale with two previous studies and provide acceptable results on construct validity.