The clinician's helpful and hindering uncertainty scale (CHUS). Development, factor structure, and initial...

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Clinical Psychology
• Psychotherapy Training

Background:

• Tolerance for uncertainty is a key clinical skill but remains understudied.
• Existing measures of therapist uncertainty tolerance require clinical experience, limiting their use in training.
• A validated, accessible tool is needed to assess and foster this competence throughout clinical development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate the Clinician Helpful and Hindering Uncertainty Scale (CHUS).
• To create a measure of uncertainty tolerance suitable for all stages of clinical training.
• To assess the psychometric properties and utility of the CHUS.

Main Methods:

• Developed 68 items based on conceptual clarification, refined to 30 items via confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in a sample of 376 therapists and students.
• Assessed construct and concurrent validity by correlating CHUS scores with measures of self-efficacy, intolerance of uncertainty, self-doubt, and coping.
• Explored training utility through qualitative interviews with 15 participants.

Main Results:

• CFA confirmed a robust 30-item, six-factor structure for the CHUS.
• The scale demonstrated good internal consistency (McDonald's ω = .74–.91) and expected correlations with related psychological constructs.
• Qualitative data indicated the CHUS promotes self-reflection and is perceived as beneficial for professional development.

Conclusions:

• The CHUS exhibits promising psychometric properties for measuring clinical uncertainty.
• This multidimensional scale is potentially valuable for both research and training in psychotherapy.
• The CHUS can support the development of essential clinical competence in managing uncertainty.