Development of a culturally relevant instrument to measure beliefs in psychotherapy

The study of how cultural factors are related to adherence to psychotherapy is highly relevant, however in Chile there are no available measures that addresses these factors. In order to develop an instrument culturally relevant for measuring cultural factors associated with adherence to psychotherapy, a three-stage mixed methodology was used. First, 32 semi-structured interviews were conducted aiming to identifying socially shared beliefs about psychotherapy. Second, the Psychotherapy Beliefs Scale was developed and piloted with a sample of 109 participants. Finally, the factorial structure, and the scale reliability were tested with a sample of 201 women recruited from several primary care health centers. The results obtained suggest that this scale is psychometrically sound and culturally relevant for measuring cultural beliefs associated with adherence to psychotherapy.