Cognitive attentional syndrome in Hong Kong people with depression

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the occurrence of Cognitive Attentional Syndrome (CAS) in the Hong Kong Chinese population with depression and to assess the psychometric properties of the translated Traditional Chinese version of the CAS-1 questionnaire. Method: The English version of the CAS-1 questionnaire was translated into Traditional Chinese for this study. Study participants with (N=64) and without (N=64) depression completed the Chinese version of the CAS-1 and the psychometric properties assessed. Results: The internal consistency of the total CAS-1 scores (α=0.704), metacognitive strategies (α=0.789) and metacognitive belief subscales (α=0.716) of the translated Chinese CAS-1 were found to be statistically acceptable. ANCOVA indicated a statistically significant difference between participants with depression and those without depression in CAS-1 total scores (F=4.574, p<0.035) and CAS-1 metacognitive strategies subscale (F=46.615, p<0.0001), treating education level and sex as covariates. Conclusion: The results support the use of the Traditional Chinese version of the CAS-1 questionnaire in clinical settings. In addition, the findings provide the first empirical evidence of the existence of CAS in Hong Kong people with depression