Psychological assessment
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Psychological assessment · Feb 2018
Construct validity of the G-CPAQ and its mediating role in pain interference and adjustment.
The Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire (CPAQ) is a measure of pain acceptance comprised of pain willingness (PW) and activity engagement (AE; McCracken et al., 2004). Concerns about the factorial structure of the CPAQ exist, as it is not yet clear whether PW and AE constitute 2 independent constructs or 1, pain acceptance. Concerns also exist about the internal and predictive validity of test score interpretations of this measure. ⋯ One hundred and sixty chronic pain patients completed a questionnaire packet including pain indexes, pain acceptance, cognitive fusion, avoidance, and emotional distress. Confirmatory factor analyses supported the 2-factor solution, though a general good model fit was achieved only for the short G-CPAQ version. Structural equation modeling showed that PW and AE coupled with cognitive defusion partially mediated the influence of pain interference on pain severity, emotional distress, and avoidance of pain. (PsycINFO Database Record
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Psychological assessment · Oct 2017
Development of the Cogniphobia Scale for Headache Disorders (CS-HD): A pilot study.
Cogniphobia refers to the specific fear and avoidance of cognitive exertion, which is believed to precipitate or exacerbate headache. This parallels a well-documented phenomenon, kinesiophobia (fear of movement), in chronic pain. The existing measure of cogniphobia (C-Scale) was developed in persons with posttraumatic headache, and item content may not generalize to the broader headache population. ⋯ The CS-HD demonstrated high internal consistency in this sample (α = 0.94). Preliminary convergent validity analyses found CS-HD total scores were positively associated with anxiety (ρ = .37, p = .001) and locus of control (internal, r = .45, p < .001; chance, r = .30, p = .009). This study provides initial evidence supporting the use of the CS-HD to evaluate cogniphobia in people with headache. (PsycINFO Database Record
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Defusion and decentering are related constructs that describe an objective, distanced, and open approach toward one's internal experiences. These constructs are thought to play important protective roles in models of psychopathology, and several common therapeutic interventions include techniques to increase levels of defusion and decentering. However, little research has examined the construct validity or the underlying structure of measures of these constructs. ⋯ Item-level analyses revealed a 2-factor structure, consisting of "Observer Perspective" and "Reduced Struggle with Inner Experience," which generally showed expected and distinct patterns of convergent and discriminant validity, although the latter factor had questionable discriminant validity namely a-namely indices of psychological distress (e.g., neuroticism, negative affect, internalizing symptoms, rumination). The factors also related differently to believability of positive versus negative thoughts, which was partially explained by the overrepresentation of negative items in the measures. Implications for the structure and validity of these constructs, as well as for their assessment and use in clinical settings, are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record
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Psychological assessment · Feb 2017
Comparative StudyThe comparative capacity of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) and MMPI-2 Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) validity scales to detect suspected malingering in a disability claimant sample.
The current study expands on past research examining the comparative capacity of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2; Butcher et al., 2001) and MMPI-2 Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF; Ben-Porath & Tellegen, 2008/2011) overreporting validity scales to detect suspected malingering, as assessed by the Miller Forensic Assessment of Symptoms Test (M-FAST; Miller, 2001), in a sample of public insurance disability claimants (N = 742) who were considered to have potential incentives to malinger. Results provide support for the capacity of both the MMPI-2 and the MMPI-2-RF overreporting validity scales to predict suspected malingering of psychopathology. The MMPI-2-RF overreporting validity scales proved to be modestly better predictors of suspected psychopathology malingering-compared with the MMPI-2 overreporting scales-in dimensional predictive models and categorical classification accuracy analyses. (PsycINFO Database Record
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Psychological assessment · Nov 2016
Psychometric analysis of the PTSD Checklist-5 (PCL-5) among treatment-seeking military service members.
The Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist (PCL-5; Weathers et al., 2013) was recently revised to reflect the changed diagnostic criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013). We investigated the psychometric properties of PCL-5 scores in a large cohort (N = 912) of military service members seeking PTSD treatment while stationed in garrison. We examined the internal consistency, convergent and discriminant validity, and DSM-5 factor structure of PCL-5 scores, their sensitivity to clinical change relative to PTSD Symptom Scale-Interview (PSS-I; Foa, Riggs, Dancu, & Rothbaum, 1993) scores, and their diagnostic utility for predicting a PTSD diagnosis based on various measures and scoring rules. ⋯ The PCL-5's sensitivity to clinical change, pre- to posttreatment, was comparable with that of the PSS-I. Optimally efficient cut scores for predicting PTSD diagnosis were consistent with prior research with service members (Hoge, Riviere, Wilk, Herrell, & Weathers, 2014). The results indicate that the PCL-5 is a psychometrically sound measure of DSM-5 PTSD symptoms that is useful for identifying provisional PTSD diagnostic status, quantifying PTSD symptom severity, and detecting clinical change over time in PTSD symptoms among service members seeking treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record