The 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale: validation of factor solutions using confirmatory factor analysis on physiotherapy out-patients.
OBJECTIVE
Whilst the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) was developed to measure three intercorrelated dimensions, there is some debate as to whether the scale is best served by a two- or three-factor construct. In particular, there is some doubt as to whether clinical data exhibit the third factor. This study uses data from a sample of physiotherapy (physical therapy) out-patients in the UK to validate the factorial structure of a set of models postulated in the literature, including the three-factor model hypothesized by Bagby et al. (1994).


METHODS
Data were collected from a sample of physiotherapy out-patients (N=242). Specialist factor analysis software (LISREL 8.54) was used to perform confirmatory factor analyses on a range of models proposed in the literature.


RESULTS
The analysis supports the three-factor model assumed by Bagby et al. (1994), as well as most of the two-factor models suggested in the literature.


CONCLUSIONS
This new set of clinical data supports most of the two- and three-factor models postulated in the recent literature, including the three-factor model advocated by Bagby et al. (1994).
Swift
Louise
L
School of Medicine, Health Policy and Practice, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK. l.swift@uea.ac.uk
Stephenson
Richard
R
Royce
Janet
J
D000342:Affective Symptoms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D006801:Humans; D008432:Mathematical Computing; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D010045:Outpatients / Q000523:psychology*; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities / Q000523:psychology*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom