THE DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF AN INTERVIEW-BASED OBSERVER RATING SCALE FOR ALEXlTHYMlA (SIFA)

Alexithymia, literally lack of words for feelings, is a personality construct characterized by an inability to understand and communicate emotional experience. The present study undertook to develop an interview-based observer rating scale to assess the construct of alexithymia. The Structured Interview for Alexithymia (SIFA), a 13-item scale, was developed using a standard methodology. One hundred and thirty nine right-handed male university students completed the SlFA and a battery of self-report measures of alexithymia, personality, depression, and emotional intelligence. After a one-month interval, thirty participants were interviewed a second time. lnterrater and test-retest reliabilities of most SlFA items were acceptable or excellent. Solid evidence for concurrent and convergent/discriminant validity was found. The preliminary results of the dimensionality of the SIFA suggest that it comprises two related, but clearly distinct, dimensions. Overall, the results suggest that the SlFA is an easy to administer, reliable, and valid instrument which can be used for research purposes. Acknowledgments The completion of this project would not be possible without the help of a great number of people. I am grateful to my supervisor Steve Hart for his high quality help, for putting so much trust in me, and for encouraging and supporting me in difficult times. Thank you to Ray Koopman for his invaluable statistical advice. I am also grateful to Jocelyn Lymburner for her enormous support as well as intellectual contribution to the present project. Thank you to Marlene Moretti for instilling in me the spirit of ethical integrity and encouraging high quality research. I am grateful to Dagmar Pescitelli, Jocelyn Lymburner, Chantelle Klassen, Kai-Lee Klymchuk, Tracy Damron, Rebecca Dempster, Lynne Sullivan, Yasamin Fazli, Nami Ikeda, Magda Wozniak, and Steve Hart for conducting interviews and helping me with all other aspects of the project. I am also grateful to the crew of the Clinical Psychology Center, Marlene Moretti, Veronica Kallos, Coleen Wilkie, and Wendy Harris for housing this project and patiently withstanding all the hassle it has caused. To my great classmates, Agnieszka, Sophie, Corina, Gary, and Jocelyn, thank you for helping me survive this turbulent experience. Also thank you to Agnieszka, Adas, and Lukasz, as well as Jacek and Agnieszka for their support, patience, and sacrifices. Thank you to Gail McLaren, Andrew Koritar, Sharon Sliwinski, and Cristina Piccone for helping me find words for my feelings. Finally, a word of gratitude is due to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for sponsoring this project through a research grant awarded to Dr. Steve Hart. Table of