Stefana Alberto, Damiani Stefano, Granziol Umberto, Provenzani Umberto, Solmi Marco, Youngstrom Eric A, Fusar-Poli Paolo
Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy.
Department of General Psychology, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.
Front Psychol. 2025 Jan 23;15:1494261. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1494261. eCollection 2024.
Psychiatric, psychological, and behavioral sciences scales provide quantitative representations of phenomena such as emotions, beliefs, functioning, and social role perceptions. Methodologists and researchers have criticized current scale development practices, emphasizing that inaccurate measurements can derail theory development and clinical decisions, thereby impeding progress in mental health research and practice. These shortcomings often stem from a lack of understanding of appropriate scale development techniques. This article presents a guide to scope, organize, and clarify the process of scale development and validation for psychological and psychiatric use by integrating current methodological literature with the authors' real-world experience. The process is divided into five phases comprising 18 steps. In the Preliminary Phase, the need for a new scale is assessed, including a review of existing measures. In the Item Development Phase, the construct is defined, and an initial pool of items is generated, incorporating literature reviews, expert feedback, and target population evaluation to ensure item relevance and clarity. During the Scale Construction Phase, the scale is finalized through the administration of surveys to a large sample, followed by parallel analysis, exploratory factor, and item descriptive statistics to identify functional items. In the Scale Evaluation Phase, the dimensionality, reliability, and validity of the scale are rigorously tested using both classical and modern psychometric techniques. Finally, in the Finalization Phase, the optimal item sequence is decided, and a comprehensive inventory manual is prepared. In sum, this structured approach provides researchers and clinicians with a comprehensive methodology for developing reliable, valid, and user-friendly psychological, psychiatric, and behavioral sciences measurement scales.
精神病学、心理学和行为科学量表提供了对情绪、信念、功能和社会角色认知等现象的量化表征。方法学家和研究人员批评了当前的量表开发实践，强调不准确的测量可能会使理论发展和临床决策偏离方向，从而阻碍心理健康研究和实践的进展。这些缺点往往源于对适当的量表开发技术缺乏了解。本文通过将当前的方法学文献与作者的实际经验相结合，提供了一份指南，以界定、组织和阐明用于心理学和精神病学的量表开发与验证过程。该过程分为五个阶段，包含18个步骤。在初步阶段，评估对新量表的需求，包括对现有测量方法的审查。在项目开发阶段，定义结构，并生成初始项目池，纳入文献综述、专家反馈和目标人群评估，以确保项目的相关性和清晰度。在量表构建阶段，通过对大量样本进行调查来确定量表，随后进行平行分析、探索性因素分析和项目描述性统计，以识别有效项目。在量表评估阶段，使用经典和现代心理测量技术严格测试量表的维度、信度和效度。最后，在定稿阶段，确定最佳项目顺序，并编写一份全面的量表手册。总之，这种结构化方法为研究人员和临床医生提供了一种全面的方法，用于开发可靠、有效且用户友好的心理学、精神病学和行为科学测量量表。
