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Updated: May 22, 2026

Development of a Virtual Reality Assessment of Everyday Living Skills
10:32

Development of a Virtual Reality Assessment of Everyday Living Skills

Published on: April 23, 2014

Validity of a brief interview for assessing reflective function.

Daniel D Rutimann1, Kevin B Meehan

  • 1Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program, Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY, USA.

Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association
|May 17, 2012
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

The Brief Reflective Function Interview (BRFI) offers a reliable and valid measure of mentalization, significantly reducing assessment time compared to the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). This streamlined approach makes measuring reflective function more accessible for research.

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Published on: September 27, 2020

Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Psychiatry
  • Developmental Psychology

Background:

  • Reflective Function (RF) measures mentalization, the capacity to understand mental states.
  • The Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) reliably measures RF but is lengthy and resource-intensive.
  • A need exists for a more efficient measure of RF in research settings.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the reliability and validity of the Brief Reflective Function Interview (BRFI).
  • To compare the BRFI's efficiency against the established AAI.
  • To determine if the BRFI is a viable alternative for assessing RF.

Main Methods:

  • Administered the BRFI to 27 undergraduates previously assessed with the AAI.
  • Coded BRFI and AAI transcripts for Reflective Function scores.
  • Analyzed inter-rater reliability (ICC) and correlation (r) between BRFI and AAI scores.
  • Compared administration times for both instruments.

Main Results:

  • BRFI demonstrated high inter-rater reliability (ICC = .79).
  • BRFI scores correlated significantly and positively with AAI scores (r = .71).
  • BRFI administration time (M = 24.15 min) was significantly shorter than AAI (M = 44.65 min).

Conclusions:

  • The BRFI is a reliable and valid measure of Reflective Function.
  • The BRFI offers a significantly more time-efficient alternative to the AAI.
  • The BRFI is a practical tool for researchers needing to assess mentalization capacity.