The development of a scale to measure cognitive behavioural processes across a range of psychological disorders

The influence of psychiatric diagnoses extends beyond psychiatry. In psychology, Beck's (1967) work paved the way for a disorder-focused conceptualisation of psychological distress and diagnosis-led therapies. Consequently, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy research has focused on studying the role of cognitive and behavioural processes in the development and/or maintenance of symptoms, in specific psychological disorders. Recently, theorists have highlighted the commonalities in these processes across multiple disorders i.e. transdiagnostic approach (Harvey et a/., 2004). This is an emerging theory, in the early stages of empirical evaluation. To identify transdiagnostic processes of interest, a measure called the Cognitive and Behavioural Processes Questionnaire (CBP-Q) was developed. The CBP-Q was administered to a mixed clinical group (n=80) and a control group: student (n=172) and community (n=57), to undertake preliminary analysis of its psychometric properties and explore group differences. A principal component analysis resulted in a 13-item version of the CBP-Q, consisting of one theoretical construct. The measure demonstrated good internal consistency, test-retest stability and satisfactory convergent and divergent validity. Correlations with symptom-based measures showed increased engagement in the processes to be associated with higher levels of symptomatology. The clinical group had a significantly higher mean CBP-Q score than the control groups. The diagnostic category was found to have no effect on CBP-Q scores, however, due to small sample sizes this finding should be interpreted with caution. The findings of the study are preliminary and require replication, however, they suggest the CBP-Q has good psychometric properties. Correlations and group comparisons support a transdiagnostic model. The CBP-Q has the potential of being a useful clinical tool in helping to identify the focus of therapy (i.e. clients individual needs of care), over the traditional diagnosis-led approach. With continued empirical evaluation, the transdiagnostic field holds promising change for clients, clinicians and services