RT Journal Article
T1 The mental state inferences in healthcare professionals scale: a psychometric study
A1 Betancort Montesinos, Moisés
A1 Delgado Rodríguez, Naira
A1 García Marco, Enrique
A1 Morera Bello, María Dolores
A1 Lorenzo Sánchez, Elena
A1 Harris, Lasana T.
AB Background:  Empathizing with patients is an essential component of effective clinical care. Yet, a debate persists regarding how healthcare professionals’ emotions and performance are impacted when they engage in empathetic behaviors and attempt to discern patients’ mental states during clinical interactions. To approach this issue, this study explores the psychometric properties of the Mental State Inferences in Healthcare Professionals Scale (MSIHPS), anovel eight-item scale to evaluate healthcare professionals’ perceptions of their own disposition to infer patients’mental states during clinical interactions.Method: The study was conducted across various units within a regional hospital and primary care units affiliatedwith the Canarian Public Health Service in Spain. Data collection took place over the course of 2022, spanningfrom February to November. The psychometric properties of the scale were analyzed, including an exploratory anda confirmatory factor analysis, to test reliability and validity. Additionally, an item response model was run to testpotentially biased items. The study collected data from a sample of 585 healthcare professionals.Results: Overall, the results indicate that the psychometric properties of the tool are adequate. Furthermore, theunidimensionality of the scale was confirmed using the item response model, wherein the eight-items significantlycontribute to predicting the latent construct.Conclusion: The MSIHPS offers the opportunity to explore the role of mentalizing in a diversity of healthcare settings.This measure can be useful to explore the relationship between healthcare professionals’ disposition to infer patients’mental states and other relevant variables in clinical interactions, such as empathy and clinical performance.
PB Springer
SN 2050-7283 (electrónico)
YR 2024
FD 2024-11
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10272/24855
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10272/24855
LA eng
NO Betancort, M., Delgado, N., García-Marco, E., Morera, M. D., Lorenzo, E., & Harris, L. T. (2024). The mental state inferences in healthcare professionals scale: a psychometric study. In BMC Psychology (Vol. 12, Issue 1). Springer Science and Business Media LLC. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-024-02119-4
NO This research was funded by the Office of Scientific and Technical Research (DGICYT), Spain, grant number PID2019-108800RA-I00.
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
RD 31 may 2026