Polish adaptation of Physician’s Trust in the Patient Scale (PTPS) – psychometric properties and validation

Abstract

Mutual trust is considered one of the critical aspects of building a successful doctor-patient relationship. Albeit patient trust in physicians has been widely explored by researchers, physician trust in patients remains neglected, which is reflected by the lack of existing tools to assess this construct. Therefore, we aimed to validate and adapt Thom’s Physician’s Trust in the Patient Scale (PTPS) in Polish. We conducted a survey-based study among 307 medical doctors. To determine the factor structure of the scale, both exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were performed. The two-factor solution was established for the scale in accordance with the original version. To determine the internal reliability and consistency of the scale, we measured Cronbach’s alpha, corrected-item total correlation, and discrimination indices – all of them obtained very good or excellent values. Estimates of convergent and discriminant validity reached all suggested thresholds. The scale also performed well in theoretical validity. Together, these findings suggest that the psychometric properties of the Polish adaptation and validation of PTPS are satisfactory and that the tool can find practical and scientific applications. We believe that the scale can substantially add to our understanding of building trust-based relationships and rapport between patients and physicians.