Purpose

Relational dynamics between patients and staff in forensic settings can be complicated and demanding for both sides. Reflective practice groups (RPGs) bring clinicians together to reflect on these dynamics. To date, evaluation of RPGs has lacked quantitative focus and a suitable quantitative tool. Therefore, a self-report tool was designed. This paper aims to pilot The Relational Aspects of CarE (TRACE) scale with clinicians in a high-secure hospital and investigate its psychometric properties.

Design/methodology/approach

A multi-professional sample of 80 clinicians were recruited, completing TRACE and attitudes to personality disorder questionnaire (APDQ). Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) determined factor structure and internal consistency of TRACE. A subset was selected to measure test–retest reliability. TRACE was cross-validated against the APDQ.

Findings

EFA found five factors underlying the 20 TRACE items: “awareness of common responses,” “discussing and normalising feelings;” “utilising feelings,” “wish to care” and “awareness of complicated affects.” This factor structure is complex, but items clustered logically to key areas originally used to generate items. Internal consistency (α = 0.66, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.55–0.76) demonstrated borderline acceptability. TRACE demonstrated good test–retest reliability (intra-class correlation = 0.94, 95% CI = 0.78–0.98) and face validity. TRACE indicated a slight negative correlation with APDQ. A larger data set is needed to substantiate these preliminary findings.

Practical implications

Early indications suggested TRACE was valid and reliable, suitable to measure the effectiveness of reflective practice.

Originality/value

The TRACE was a distinctive measure that filled a methodological gap in the literature.

中文翻译：

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制定一项措施来评估临床医生在法医环境中反映关键员工-患者动态的能力

目的

在法医环境中，患者和工作人员之间的关系动态可能对双方都很复杂且要求很高。反思实践小组 (RPG) 将临床医生聚集在一起以反思这些动态。迄今为止，RPG 的评估缺乏量化重点和合适的量化工具。因此，设计了一个自我报告工具。本文旨在与一家高安全性医院的临床医生一起试用护理关系方面 (TRACE) 量表，并研究其心理测量特性。

设计/方法/方法

招募了 80 名临床医生的多专业样本，完成了 TRACE 和人格障碍态度问卷 (APDQ)。探索性因子分析 (EFA) 确定了 TRACE 的因子结构和内部一致性。选择一个子集来测量重测信度。TRACE 针对 APDQ 进行了交叉验证。

发现

EFA 发现了 20 个 TRACE 项目背后的五个因素：“对共同反应的认识”、“讨论和规范情绪”；“利用感觉”、“希望关心”和“意识到复杂的影响”。这种因素结构很复杂，但项目在逻辑上聚集到最初用于生成项目的关键区域。内部一致性 ( α = 0.66, 95% 置信区间 (CI) = 0.55–0.76) 证明了可接受的临界值。TRACE 表现出良好的重测信度（类内相关性 = 0.94, 95% CI = 0.78-0.98）和面部效度。TRACE 表明与 APDQ 有轻微的负相关。需要更大的数据集来证实这些初步发现。

实际影响

早期迹象表明 TRACE 是有效和可靠的，适合衡量反思实践的有效性。

原创性/价值

TRACE 是一项独特的措施，填补了文献中的方法学空白。