Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
313796 Annales Mdico-psychologiques, revue psychiatrique 2014 7 Pages PDF
Abstract

RésuméPlusieurs études démontrent que les professionnels de la santé mentale entretiennent fréquemment des attitudes négatives à l’égard des personnes présentant un trouble de personnalité limite (TPL). Peu d’échelles de mesure d’attitudes à l’endroit du TPL existent et encore aucune n’a été validée auprès des professionnels francophones. Cet article présente les propriétés psychométriques de l’Échelle d’attitudes à l’égard des personnes présentant un trouble de personnalité limite (ÉA-TPL). Quatre cent seize intervenants en santé mentale ont complété le questionnaire. Les résultats des analyses suggèrent une solution factorielle en deux facteurs. Les indices de cohérence interne sont satisfaisants pour l’échelle globale et les deux facteurs résultant des analyses : aisance à interagir avec les personnes présentant un TPL et perceptions positives du TPL. Les résultats suggèrent que l’ÉA-TPL est une mesure prometteuse des attitudes envers les personnes présentant un diagnostic de TPL. Cette mesure a des applications en milieu clinique et pourra servir à d’autres études portant sur les attitudes des professionnels de la santé face au TPL. Par exemple, elle pourrait contribuer à confirmer l’effet d’ateliers de formation visant à amener les professionnels à adopter des attitudes et stratégies d’intervention plus constructives lorsque confrontés au défi de l’intervention auprès d’une clientèle présentant un TPL.

ObjectivesStudies have shown that negative attitudes on the part of mental health professionals are often held toward people suffering from borderline personality disorder (BPD). These negative attitudes heighten the risk of stigmatization and rejection of these patients. Many publications have focused on the clinicians’ attitudes toward patients with personality disorders, and on the development of questionnaires meant to assess these attitudes. While some of these questionnaires have used semi-structured interviews in a qualitative framework, others have resorted to quantitative questionnaires. However, only one of these instruments has been developed with the specific purpose of evaluating the clinicians’ attitudes toward patients with BPD. The existing measures, developed in English, were validated among clinicians working outside Quebec. The present study exposes a factor analysis and preliminary validation of a French language instrument specifically designed to measure mental health professionals’ attitudes toward patients with BPD.MethodA multidimensional and attitudinal model was chosen for the development of the scale. Twenty items were elaborated by Bouchard and grouped into four different scales: Negative attitudes (four items), Positive attitudes (five items), Caretaking necessity (five items), and False perceptions about BPD (six items). A total of 416 mental health professionals completed the questionnaire. Demographic data is available for 236 participants (178 women): mean age is 42, 1 year and 70% are university graduates.ResultsPreliminary factor analysis confirmed the existence of two main factors. The scales Positive attitudes and Negative attitude were grouped into factor 1, which was labelled Comfort when interacting with someone who has BPD. The items associated with the scales Caretaking necessity and False perceptions about BPD were grouped into factor 2, labelled Positives perceptions about BPD. The internal consistency indexes of the scale as well as the two distinct factors are satisfactory. Linear regressions were computed in order to assess whether sex, age, and level of education of participants are good predictors for the total score of the scale but the results are not significant; these variables are not good predictors for the total score of the scale.ConclusionResults constitute a first step toward the validation of a measure of the attitudes towards people with a diagnosis of BPD. The instrument could be also used to assess the effect of training workshops aimed to change mental health professionals’ attitudes toward this clinical population.

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