Mental health professionals' attitudes to partnership in medicine taking: a validation study of the Leeds Attitude to Concordance Scale II

Abstract

Purpose: To explore psychiatrists' attitudes toward concordance by validating the Leeds Attitude to Concordance Scale II (LATCon II) in a Spanish sample.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey. An opportunistic sample of 125 psychiatrist and 100 psychiatry registrars attending a national conference completed the LATCon II questionnaire and sociodemographic and professional data. The principal component analysis of the LATCon II items was performed. Associations with sociodemographic and mental health professional variables were calculated.

Results: Principal component analysis yielded three components labeled "communication/empathy," "shared control," and "eventual paternalistic style." Women obtained significantly lower scores than men on the second component. Mental health professional variables were not related to attitude to concordance.

Conclusions: Psychiatrists show a favorable attitude to involve patients in a process of reciprocal communication, where patients' preferences, values, and expectations are considered, but they are more cautious in their attitude to sharing decisions with patients. There is scope for the different kinds of research in this area: studying sex-based differences in psychiatrists' attitudes to concordance and also exploring the gap in mental health care between patients' and professionals' views of shared decision making. Only in this way can the real partnership for shared decision making be fully understood.