Development of Autogenic Training Clinical Effectiveness Scale (ATCES)

The purpose of the present study was to develop a scale measuring clinical effectiveness of autogenic training. In Study 1, 167 undergraduates completed a survey of items concerning physical and mental states, which were thought to vary in the course of autogenic training. With item and factor analyses, 20 items were selected, and the resulting scale (ATCES) had high discrimination and clear factor structure. In Study 2, reliability and concurrent and clinical validity of the scale were examined with three groups of respondents: 85 mentally healthy, 31 control, 13 clinical persons. The scale showed a high test-retest correlation (r=.83) and α coefficient (α=.86). ATCES had a Pearson correlation coefficient of r =.56 with General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), and r=.73 with trait anxiety (STAI-T). And ATCES successfully discriminated the mentally healthy and clinical groups in terms of clinical effectiveness. These results demonstrated high reliability and sufficient concurrent and clinical validity of the new scale.