Evaluation of the psychometric properties of the cognitive distortions questionnaire (CD-Quest) in a sample of undergraduate students

Abstract

Objective: The aim of the study was to assess the initial psychometric properties of the Cognitive Distortions Questionnaire (CD-Quest) in its Brazilian Portuguese version tested in adult undergraduate students. Methods: Brazilian undergraduate medical and psychology students comprising the sample (n=184) completed the following measures: Cognitive Distortions Questionnaire, Beck Depression Inventory and Beck Anxiety Inventory. These self-report instruments were administered collectively in classrooms. Results: The Cognitive Distortions Questionnaire showed adequate internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha=0.85) and concurrent validity with Beck Depression Inventory (r=0.65, p smaller than 0.001) and Beck Anxiety Inventory (r=0.52, p smaller than 0.001). Furthermore, it was able to discriminate between groups possessing depressive (Beck Depression Inventory composite score ?12) and anxious (Beck Anxiety Inventory composite score ?11) indicators from those not possessing them (p smaller than 0.001). Principal components showed the measure was unidimensional, and it explained about 29 percent of the data variance. A confirmatory factor analysis showed that all the regression coefficients are greater than or equal to 0.40. Conclusion: The original Brazilian version of the Cognitive Distortions Questionnaire is adequate for use in the context of national undergraduate students and is able to separate different cognitive distortions. However, further studies using clinical samples are needed