4-7 Jul 2023 Marseille (France)
Assessing individual differences in attitudes towards touch in treatment settings: Introducing the touch & health scale
Aikaterini Vafeiadou  1, *@  , Natalie C. Bowling  2@  , Claudia Hammond  3@  , Michael J. Banissy  4, 5@  
1 : Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London
2 : School of Human Sciences, University of Greenwich
3 : Department of Psychology, University of Sussex
4 : School of Psychological Science, University of Bristol
5 : Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London
* : Corresponding author

Individuals commonly receive touch in treatment settings, but there is limited research on how they perceive it. The current project sought to address this gap by: 1) developing the Touch & Health Scale (THS) - a novel instrument to measure attitudes to touch in treatment settings 2) assessing inter-individual differences in THS scores, and 3) examining the association between individuals' THS scores and wellbeing. Data of a large U.K. adults sample (N > 12,000) were used. THS showed Cronbach's α between 0.636 and 0.816 and significant correlations (p < 0.001) with day-to-day attitudes to touch. THS scores differed as a function of extraversion and avoidant attachment style. Participants with more positive attitudes to touch in treatment settings showed greater wellbeing. Overall, the study highlights the importance of a personalised approach to touch in treatment settings and provides a new scale that may act as a screening tool for this purpose.


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