Developing a standardised measure of psychological safety

Background: Psychological safety is increasingly recognised as central to mental health and wellbeing. The Polyvagal Theory offers a ‘Science of Safety’ which can help inform clinical practice to promote wellbeing, resilience and post-traumatic growth, whilst mitigating trauma. To date, there is no standardised measure of psychological safety comprising psychological, physiological and social components. The current study aims to develop such a self-report measure. Methods: The study comprised three stages: First, seven key stakeholders with expertise in trauma, applied psychology and The Polyvagal Theory generated 107 items using a variation of the Delphi method. The second stage aimed to reduce the number of items and assess the underlying factor structure. Participants (n =342) completed the 107 item measure which was disseminated via an anonymised, online Qualtrics survey. Exploratory factor analysis guided by Cronbach’s alpha and omega coefficients resulted in a reduced scale with 29 items of psychological safety. Ethical approval was granted by the University of Strathclyde ethics committee. Current stage of work: Data collection began for the final phase in February 2021 and should be completed by June 2021. The 29 item ‘safety measure’ has been disseminated via an online Qualtrics survey with five other measures for the purpose of comprehensive psychometric validation via tests of dimensionality, reliability, known groups, criterion, convergent, predictive and discriminant validity. Expected results: The findings will result in a psychometrically validated measure of psychological safety. Discussion: The development of a holistic, standardised measure of psychological safety will benefit both academic and clinical work.