Complementary and Integrative Health Assessment for Practitioners Scale: Initial Development and Validation

Abstract

The Complementary and Integrative Health Assessment for Practitioners (CIHAP) scale was developed to assess counselors' and other health-care providers' current knowledge of complementary and integrative health (CIH) and their interest in integrating CIH into their practices. Participants included 493 counselors, counselor educators, human services professionals, and other health professionals. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted, along with measurement invariance, which was determined when this scale was compared to another validated complementary and integrative health scale. Results indicated that the CIHAP contains two subscales, openness to CIH and intentional practices, and that the overall scale has robust initial reliability and validity. It appears to be useful in capturing the attitudes and perceptions of mental health counselors and other health professionals toward complementary and integrative health.