TY - JOUR
T1 - Measuring psychological flexibility in medical students and residents
T2 - A psychometric analysis
AU - Palladino, Christie L.
AU - Ange, Brittany
AU - Richardson, Deborah S.
AU - Casillas, Rhonda
AU - Decker, Matt
AU - Gillies, Ralph A.
AU - House, Amy
AU - Rollock, Michael
AU - Salazar, William H.
AU - Waller, Jennifer L.
AU - Zeidan, Ronnie
AU - Stepleman, Lara
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - Purpose: Psychological flexibility involves mindful awareness of our thoughts and feelings without allowing them to prohibit acting consistently with our values and may have important implications for patient-centered clinical care. Although psychological flexibility appears quite relevant to the training and development of health care providers, prior research has not evaluated measures of psychological flexibility in medical learners. Therefore, we investigated the validity of our learners' responses to three measures related to psychological flexibility. Methods: Fourth-year medical students and residents (n=275) completed three measures of overlapping aspects of psychological flexibility: (1) Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II (AAQ-II); (2) Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire (CFQ); and (3) Mindful Attention and Awareness Questionnaire (MAAS). We evaluated five aspects of construct validity: content, response process, internal structure, relationship with other variables, and consequences. Results:We found good internal consistency for responses on the AAQ (α=0.93), MAAS (α=0.92), and CFQ (α=0.95). Factor analyses demonstrated a reasonable fit to previously published factor structures. As expected, scores on all three measures were moderately correlated with one another and with a measure of life satisfaction (p<0.01). Conclusion: Our findings provide preliminary evidence supporting validity of the psychological flexibility construct in a medical education sample. As psychological flexibility is a central concept underlying selfawareness, this work may have important implications for clinical training and practice.
AB - Purpose: Psychological flexibility involves mindful awareness of our thoughts and feelings without allowing them to prohibit acting consistently with our values and may have important implications for patient-centered clinical care. Although psychological flexibility appears quite relevant to the training and development of health care providers, prior research has not evaluated measures of psychological flexibility in medical learners. Therefore, we investigated the validity of our learners' responses to three measures related to psychological flexibility. Methods: Fourth-year medical students and residents (n=275) completed three measures of overlapping aspects of psychological flexibility: (1) Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II (AAQ-II); (2) Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire (CFQ); and (3) Mindful Attention and Awareness Questionnaire (MAAS). We evaluated five aspects of construct validity: content, response process, internal structure, relationship with other variables, and consequences. Results:We found good internal consistency for responses on the AAQ (α=0.93), MAAS (α=0.92), and CFQ (α=0.95). Factor analyses demonstrated a reasonable fit to previously published factor structures. As expected, scores on all three measures were moderately correlated with one another and with a measure of life satisfaction (p<0.01). Conclusion: Our findings provide preliminary evidence supporting validity of the psychological flexibility construct in a medical education sample. As psychological flexibility is a central concept underlying selfawareness, this work may have important implications for clinical training and practice.
KW - Assessment
KW - Mindfulness
KW - Psychological flexibility
KW - Psychological well-being
KW - Psychometrics
KW - Validity
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U2 - 10.3402/meo.v18i0.20932
DO - 10.3402/meo.v18i0.20932
M3 - Article
C2 - 23948496
AN - SCOPUS:84888809149
SN - 1087-2981
VL - 18
JO - Medical Education Online
JF - Medical Education Online
IS - 1
M1 - 20932
ER -