Theoretical analysis of instruments in the research of sense of belonging

Abstract

Introduction. Interest in the study of the sense of belonging has been growing recently because in the conditions of the full military invasion of Russia on the territory of Ukraine, many citizens either moved within the borders of the Motherland itself, or left abroad. Citizens, who left their country, gave up a settled life, began to feel disconnected from their community, on the one hand, and on the other – faced the need for painful and inevitable integration into a new society. In order to regain a sense of belonging, they try to get involved in common affairs, show a willingness to do something for the benefit of the community, and seek to restore familiar ties with the group they left. Because psychology currently lacks a scientifically based toolkit for studying the sense of belonging, we decided to review the existing foreign instruments, the subject of which is the sense of belonging itself.

The purpose of the article is a theoretical analysis of psychological instruments for researching the subject's sense of belonging.

Methods and methodology: theoretical and comparative analysis of psychological instruments for researching the subject's sense of belonging.

Results. Based on the of the conducted research, there were translated into Ukrainian and further analyzed five psychological methods, namely: the “SOBI” sense of belonging instrument; social connectedness scale; general belongingness scale; community connections index, index of family involvement in school; short questionnaire “Challenged sense of belonging scale”. It is established that the four instruments presented above are aimed at researching the sense of belonging of a person who lives in normal conditions, while the questionnaire “CSBS” reveals the features of belonging of a subject who is in difficult life circumstances, such as, forced emigration.

Prospects for further research – in the adaptation of the psychological toolkit for further use on the Ukrainian sample, as well as conducting a comparative analysis of the sense of belonging of internally displaced people and those who found temporary shelter in other countries due to the war in Ukraine.