Evaluating the validity and reliability of flourishing scale and determining the relation between flourishing and academic achievement in students of medicine school

Introduction: Flourishing scale measures one of positive aspects of human mind. The aim of this study was to examine validity and reliability of the flourishing scale. The secondary objective of the study was to determine the correlation between flourishing and academic achievement. Methods: This descriptive survey study was performed on 200 of medical students in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences who were selected through convenient sampling in 2014. In order to check the validity of the questionnaire, content validity and item-total correlation (material analysis) was used. The reliability of the scale was examined with Cronbach’s alpha and half-split reliability. The Pearson correlation coefficient was used to determine the relationship between flourishing and academic achievement. Results: Item-total correlation was 0.52 to 0.76 and significant (P<0.01). Results of exploratory factor analysis estimated the scale as single factor with factor loading at 3.86 which explained 46% of variance of total items. The cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.82 and half-split reliability coefficient was 0.8. Analysis of flourishing scale and academic achievement revealed a positive significant relationship between the two variables (p<0.01). Conclusion: Findings indicated the acceptable validity and reliability of the scale in assessing flourishing or subjective well-being of university students. Given the properties of desirable psychometrics, the present research instrument could be used in positive psychology researches.