TY - JOUR A1 - Ay-Bryson, Destina Sevde A1 - Weck, Florian A1 - Kühne, Franziska T1 - Can simulated patient encounters appear authentic? BT - development and pilot results of a rating instrument based on the portrayal of depressive patients JF - Training and education in professional psychology N2 - Public Significance Statement This study demonstrates that simulated patients (SPs) can authentically portray a depressive case. The results provide preliminary evidence of psychometrically sound properties of the rating scale that contributes to distinguishing between authentic and unauthentic SPs and may thus foster SPs' dissemination into evidence-based training.
For training purposes, simulated patients (SPs), that is, healthy people portraying a disorder, are disseminating more into clinical psychology and psychotherapy. In the current study, we developed an observer-based rating instrument for the evaluation of SP authenticity-namely, it not being possible to distinguish them from real patients-so as to foster their use in evidence-based training. We applied a multistep inductive approach to develop the Authenticity of Patient Demonstrations (APD) scale. Ninety-seven independent psychotherapy trainees, 77.32% female, mean age of 31.49 (SD = 5.17) years, evaluated the authenticity of 2 independent SPs, each of whom portrayed a depressive patient. The APD demonstrated good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = .83) and a strong correlation (r = .82) with an established tool for assessing SP performance in medical contexts. The APD scale distinguished significantly between an authentic and unauthentic SP (d = 2.35). Preliminary evidence for the psychometric properties of the APD indicates that the APD could be a viable tool for recruiting, training, and evaluating the authenticity of SPs. Strengths, limitations, and future directions are also discussed in detail. KW - authenticity KW - evidence-based training KW - standardized patients KW - role-play KW - mental disorders Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1037/tep0000349 SN - 1931-3918 SN - 1931-3926 VL - 16 IS - 1 SP - 20 EP - 27 PB - American Psychological Association CY - Washington ER -