The psychometric properties of Psychosis Attachment measure (PAM) and Attachment Avoidance in Therapy Scale (AATS) in Iceland

Abstract

Attachment styles of people with psychotic symptoms may impact their treatment adherence, symptom severity and duration of untreated psychosis (DUP). Commonly used attachment measures may not be suitable in this population because these measures typically assume that people are in close/romantic relationships whereas people with psychosis tend to be socially isolated. The Psychosis Attachment Measure (PAM) was developed to prevent the reliance of intimate relationship experiences and the Attachment Avoidance in Therapy Scale (AATS) was developed to measure avoidance of attachment to therapists in therapy settings. Although these measures show promise in some studies, particularly in studies which use samples drawn from the general population, the results in samples from psychotic populations are mixed, particularly relating to the factor structure of PAM. In this study the psychometric properties of the Icelandic versions of PAM and AATS will be examined. The psychometric evaluation of PAM and AATS indicate that the measures have good discriminant validity and internal consistency. The concurrent validity is however somewhat ambiguous. The factor structure of PAM shows two distinct factors in both the clinical and the non-clinical sample in line with other studies of non-clinical sample and supporting its use in a clinical sample as well.