Adaptation and Validation of the Attitudes Towards Psychological Online Interventions Questionnaire (APOI) in a Help-Seeking Sample: Measurement and Associated Factors

Abstract The Attitudes Towards Psychological Online Interventions Questionnaire (APOI) is designed to measure attitudes towards online treatments. This study aimed to adapt and validate the APOI for the Mexican population. Participants included 2,953 adults who had actively registered to receive an online psychotherapeutic intervention for emotional disorders, with a majority being women (78.5%) and a mean age of 33.26 years ( SD = 9.93). We examined the dimensionality of the APOI using parallel analysis and exploratory graph analysis, followed by confirmatory factor analysis. Sociodemographic predictors of APOI scores were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Exploratory and confirmatory analyses supported a two-factor, seven-item structure (Confidence in Effectiveness and Technologization Threat) with acceptable reliability in both subsamples (categorical ω =.72–.81) and good fit in the confirmatory subsample (robust CFI =.98, SRMR = .03). The two factors were only moderately and negatively correlated (r = −.51), and bifactor indices did not support a global score (ECV = .60, ⍵H= .59). Measurement invariance up to the scalar level held across sex, age and education. Negative attitudes (Technologization Threat) were associated with being male ( d = −0.33), younger (β = −.17), having a higher income ( d = 0.12), not having a university education ( d = −0.13) and having fewer depressive symptoms (β = −.04). Positive attitudes (Confidence in Effectiveness) were only weakly associated with being female ( d = 0.16) and greater depressive symptoms (β = .05). Sociodemographic variables explained 5.8% of the variance in Technologization Threat but only 0.9% in Confidence in Effectiveness. The study supports a simplified two-factor structure for the APOI in a Spanish-speaking context, excluding dimensions with low reliability. Because the two dimensions are distinct rather than opposite poles of one attitude, services should not treat “confidence” and “threat” as a single adoption barrier: reassurance about effectiveness and reassurance about the technology itself may need to be addressed separately, and the demographic profile of technologization concerns can be used to target onboarding support.