Attitudes towards Euthanasia in Medical Personnel Scale (AHE-PM)

Abstract

The Attitudes towards Euthanasia in Medical Personnel Scale (AHE-PM), also known as Cuestionario de Actitudes Hacia la Eutanasia en Personal Médico, is a crucial instrument designed to assess the perspectives of medical professionals regarding euthanasia. This six-item rating scale, developed by Puente-López et al. in 2023, is structured around two core dimensions: “Attitudes towards euthanasia to avoid suffering due to poor prognosis” and “Attitudes towards euthanasia to avoid emotional suffering.” The AHE-PM builds upon the foundational work of Barroso et al. (1992) and Pacheco et al. (1988, 1989). The scale’s development involved data collection from a sample of physicians across three Spanish provinces within the autonomous community of Andalusia. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted, confirming a robust two-factor structure and its excellent fit with the collected data. The internal consistency of both factors has been rigorously reported. The AHE-PM is designed for efficient administration, requiring only a few minutes for completion.

Keywords

Attitudes Towards Euthanasia, Avoid Emotional Suffering, Avoid Suffering Due to Poor Prognosis, Physicians, Right to Die, Health Personnel Attitudes, Health Care Personnel Measures

Authors

Puente-López, Esteban; Ruiz-Cabello, Aurelio Luna; Pina, David; Maldonado, Aurelio Luna; Haro Kay, María José; Lorente Sánchez, Mauricio; Gamero Lucas, Joaquín

Purpose

The primary purpose of the AHE-PM is to meticulously evaluate the attitudes of medical staff towards euthanasia. This instrument aims to provide a standardized and reliable method for understanding the nuanced perspectives of healthcare professionals on this sensitive and ethically complex issue.

Validity

No data is Available.

Reliability

Internal Consistency: The AHE-PM demonstrates strong internal consistency. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for both identified factors were reported as .86, indicating a high degree of interrelatedness among the items within each factor. This suggests that the items measuring each dimension are consistent in their measurement of the underlying construct.

Factor Analysis

Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA): An exploratory factor analysis was conducted using the unweighted least squares method with normalized Varimax rotation. This analysis successfully identified two distinct factors. These two factors collectively accounted for a significant portion of the variance in the data, explaining 58.32% and 34.91% of the variance respectively. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy was .750, with a 95% confidence interval of [.725, .779], indicating that the data were suitable for factor analysis. Bartlett’s sphericity test yielded a statistically significant result (χ² = 2085.0, p < .0001), further supporting the appropriateness of factor analysis.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA): A confirmatory factor analysis was performed to evaluate the fit of the two-factor structure to the data. The indicators provided by the CFA program reported adequate properties for this structure. All fit estimators obtained from the CFA demonstrated scores indicating that the proposed model, with its two factors, provided an excellent fit to the observed data. This confirms the theoretical structure of the scale and its empirical validation.

Instrument

Test Type: Original

Format: Rating Scale

Language Available: English

Population Group: Human (Male and Female)

Age Group: Adulthood (18 yrs & older), including Young Adulthood (18-29 yrs), Thirties (30-39 yrs), Middle Age (40-64 yrs), and Aged (65 yrs & older).

Population Details: The target population for the AHE-PM consists of physicians. Data for the scale’s development were collected from physicians located in Spain.

Test Methodology: The development and validation of the AHE-PM involved several robust psychometric methodologies. These included Test Reliability assessments, specifically focusing on Internal Consistency, along with comprehensive Factor Analysis, encompassing both Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis. These methods were employed to ensure the structural integrity and measurement accuracy of the scale.

Keywords

Attitudes Towards Euthanasia, Avoid Emotional Suffering, Avoid Suffering Due to Poor Prognosis, Physicians, Right to Die, Health Personnel Attitudes, Health Care Personnel Measures

Authors

Puente-López, Esteban

• ORCID Identifier: No data is Available

• Affiliation: University of Nebrija, Faculty of Natural Science, Department of Psychology

• Email Address: [email protected]

Ruiz-Cabello, Aurelio Luna

• ORCID Identifier: No data is Available

• Affiliation: University of Murcia, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Sociohealth Sciences

• Email Address: [email protected]

Pina, David

• ORCID Identifier: No data is Available

• Affiliation: University of Murcia, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Sociohealth Sciences

• Email Address: [email protected]

Maldonado, Aurelio Luna

• ORCID Identifier: No data is Available

• Affiliation: University of Murcia, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Sociohealth Sciences

• Email Address: [email protected]

Haro Kay, María José

• ORCID Identifier: No data is Available

• Affiliation: University of Cadiz, Faculty of Medicine

• Email Address: [email protected]

Lorente Sánchez, Mauricio

• ORCID Identifier: No data is Available

• Affiliation: University of Cadiz, Faculty of Medicine

• Email Address: [email protected]

Gamero Lucas, Joaquín

• ORCID Identifier: No data is Available

• Affiliation: University of Cadiz, Faculty of Medicine

• Email Address: [email protected]

Correspondence Address: Ruiz-Cabello, Aurelio Luna: University of Murcia Espinardo, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Sociohealth Sciences, Murcia, Spain, [email protected]

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Permissions: To obtain permissions for the use of the AHE-PM, it is recommended to contact the Corresponding Author.

Fee: The AHE-PM is a non-commercial instrument and does not require any fee for its use.

Test Year: The AHE-PM was developed and published in 2023.

References

Puente-López, E., Ruiz-Cabello, A. L., Pina, D., Luna Maldonado, A., Haro Kay, M. J., Lorente Sánchez, M., & Gamero Lucas, J. (2023). Euthanasia Attitudes Questionnaire in Medical Personnel (AHE-PM). Interdisciplinaria Revista de Psicología y Ciencias Afines, 40(1), 351–362.

Items of the Attitudes towards Euthanasia in Medical Personnel Scale (AHE-PM)

The Attitudes towards Euthanasia in Medical Personnel Scale (AHE-PM) consists of 6 items. While the specific wording of each item is not provided, the scale is structured around two primary factors, each contributing to the assessment of attitudes towards euthanasia in medical professionals.

Factors and Subscales:

1. Attitudes towards euthanasia to alleviate suffering due to poor prognosis: This factor likely encompasses items related to the medical professional’s willingness to consider euthanasia when a patient is experiencing significant suffering with no hope of recovery.

2. Attitudes towards euthanasia to avoid emotional suffering: This factor likely includes items addressing the medical professional’s views on euthanasia as a means to alleviate a patient’s profound emotional distress.

The exact items can be found in the source publication: Puente-López, E., Ruiz-Cabello, A. L., Pina, D., Luna Maldonado, A., Haro Kay, M. J., Lorente Sánchez, M., & Gamero Lucas, J. (2023). Euthanasia Attitudes Questionnaire in Medical Personnel (AHE-PM). Interdisciplinaria Revista de Psicología y Ciencias Afines, 40(1), 351–362, specifically in Table 2, Pages 356-357.