Validity of brief scales for assessing transdiagnostic cognitive emotion regulation strategies in primary care patients with emotional disorders

Abstract

Cognitive emotion regulation strategies have been proposed as an explanation for transdiagnostic vulnerability to emotional disorders, which are highly prevalent in the primary care setting. The use of brief psychological instruments to detect cognitive-emotional factors—such as worry, rumination, interpretative and attentional distortions, and metacognitions—could provide valuable clinical data to better guide treatment in primary care. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of four brief scales derived from the full versions of four assessment instruments (PSWQ, RRS, IACTA, and MCQ-30). The brief scales were completed by 1,250 primary care patients with an emotional disorder diagnosed by a general practitioner. The following characteristics of the scales were assessed: (a) internal structure (assessed by confirmatory factor analysis), (b) internal consistency, (c) convergent validity, (d) metric invariance across gender and age, and (e) predictive validity. The results showed a unifactorial structure for all of the tested scales, with an acceptable internal consistency and convergent validity, and invariance across gender and age. The brief scales presented predictive validity using the PHQ-4, a 4-item scale used to detect depression and generalized anxiety disorders, suggesting that these brief scales are optimal for use in the primary care setting.