The use of the Reflexive Function Scale in Higher Education

The aim of this work is to evaluate the INSTALL European Project efficacy in fostering mentalization (Bateman & Fonagy, 2012) with students enrolled in the training programs. For this purpose, we administered to 59 Italian undearchieving students lagging behind with their studies an especially devised open–ended questionnaire before and after the INSTALL formative programs. The questionnaire comprises questions inspired by the demand questions used in the Adult Attachment Interview and adapted for the specific university context. Answers were scored on the basis of the Reflexive Function Scale (RFS) (Fonagy & Target, 1997). Analysis showed a positive trend toward increased RF in most of participants. We discuss how the RF increase is to be credited to the multimodal methodology of INSTALL Project and we bring into focus the innovative contexts, e.g., normative–formative contexts, in which mentalization theory could be applied.