A sense of community plays an important role in promoting sustainable behaviors and values. Therefore, when measuring sense of community, it is important to ensure that such measurement instruments have excellent psychometric properties. In this study, we start from the model that sense of community is related to a person’s perception of his or her relationship with a community, particularly in terms of need fulfillment, sense of connectedness and emotional connection, and perceived impact on the community. The Brief Sense of Community Scale (BSCS) is an 8-item self-report scale designed specifically for the assessment of individuals’ relation with their neighborhood. The aim of this study was to investigate the factor structure and reliability of a new Slovenian version. A sample of 502 adults from Slovenia completed the scale. The data did not support the original hierarchical four-factor model. On the other hand, a one-factor model with autoregressive effects on the unique factors fitted well. The reliability of the sum score was excellent, while only two out of the four subscales had acceptable reliability. The results support the use of the Slovenian version of the BSCS as a unidimensional scale and allow the use of this measure in research on sense of community and possibly as a rigorous measure in further studies of sustainable development in different cultures.

Aim: Recently, a patient-reported experience measure (PREM) was developed in Slovenia to assess patients’ experiences with outpatient specialist healthcare clinics. The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties (including factor structure, reliability, convergent validity, and response distribution) of the questionnaire. Methods: The sample consisted of 8,406 adult participants treated in 171 specialist clinics from different medical fields. Participants voluntarily and anonymously responded to either the paper or online survey. Results: Descriptive statistics show meaningful response patterns with a general tendency towards favourable assessments. The psychometric analyses of the scales evaluating doctor’s and nurses’ work, respectively, generally showed a good fit of the unidimensional factor model as well as the Rasch model, high factor loadings and very good to satisfactory reliability. The Rasch scaling showed that these scales were most informative for patients with relatively unfavourable experience ratings. Conclusions: The results are similar to those found in previous evaluations of PREMs in other countries. Given its good psychometric properties, the Slovenian PREM can be recommended for healthcare evaluations in Slovenia and as a model for the development of similar PREMs in other countries.

Matura je slovenski državni izpit, ki ga mora po uspešnem zaključku srednješolskega izobraževanja opraviti vsakdo. Ima dve glavni funkciji, in sicer predstavlja zaključni izpit, ki kaže na usvojene standarde znanja v srednji šoli, poleg tega pa služi kot selekcijski instrument za vpis na univerzo. Z raziskavo smo želeli preveriti napovedno veljavnost Mature za napovedovanje študijskega uspeha pri univerzitetnih programih s področja družboslovja in humanistike. Pri tem smo uporabili tako klasični korelacijski pristop kot tudi večnivojski regresijski pristop. Preverili smo tudi morebitne razlike med študijskimi programi. Skladno s pričakovanji se je uspeh na Maturi izkazal za razmeroma močan in robusten napovednik kasnejše študijske uspešnosti, in sicer tudi po nadzoru srednješolskega uspeha. Rezultati podpirajo uporabo Mature v namen selekcije kandidatov za dodiplomske programe družboslovnih in humanističnih smeri.