The initial validation of a state version of the Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire

Abstract

Considerable evidence supports the utility of the concepts of cognitive fusion and defusion, across diverse areas of functioning and concern. Cognitive fusion includes taking thoughts literally, and thinking being likely to dominate behaviour. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) protocols include 'defusion' exercises, to support a distanced and more flexible relationship with thoughts. The Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire (CFQ), is a brief, psychometrically sound measure of the process. Although the CFQ has generated fusionfocussed research, it does not tend to be used in experimental settings. Instead, fusionfocussed experiments tend to use psychometrically untested measures of thought believability as a proxy for fusion. This paper reports on the initial validation of a state version of the CFQ, the State Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire (SCFQ). Three separate, predominantly student-based convenience samples, with a combined n of 379 provided preliminary evidence that the SCFQ has a theoretically consistent factor structure, shows excellent internal reliability, is stable over time, and is a valid measure of fusion. The findings also demonstrate that the SCFQ is more sensitive than the CFQ to changes in fusion, following a brief defusion exercise, making it more suitable for lab based studies.

Profiles of Psychological Flexibility: A Latent Class Analysis of the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Model

“…For example, in some ACT writings the six component processes are referred to as skills that can be altered or modified, rather than traits that are somewhat fixed 23 (see Christodoulou et al, 2018). However, it is apparent in some recent psychometric measure developments that, for example, the measure of cognitive fusion employed here (the CFQ) was designed as a trait measure because Bolderston et al (2018) have developed and validated a separate State Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire (SCFQ). Therefore, it is clear that at least in the manner that the measures employed in the present study were designed as instruments to assess trait-like constructs and indeed are typically utilized by researchers in the empirical literature as such, that there is ample justification for examining the psychological flexibility model with latent class approaches.…”

Cognitive Fusion Mediates the Impact of Attachment Imagery on Paranoia and Anxiety

“…This study used both trait (Gillanders et al 2014) and state (Bolderston et al 2019) CFQs, which are 7-item measures assessing the extent to which people are fused with their thoughts generally or situationally. Participants rate how true each item is on a 7-point scale and scores are summed to create total trait and state cognitive fusion scores.…”

Measuring cognitive fusion through the Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire-7: Measurement invariance across non-clinical and clinical psychological samples

“…CF is one of the core processes contributing to a poorer PF and, hence, to many mental health conditions [ 2 , 6 ]. The CFQ-7 is a widely used tool for measuring CF [ 10 , 11 ]. However, the psychometric properties of the scale have been addressed only by means of the CTT, and few studies have explored its measurement invariance across non-clinical and clinical groups, with findings that are partly contradictory [ 10 , 14 , 22 ].…”

“…Gillanders et al [ 10 ] developed the Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire (CFQ), a seven-item scale (CFQ-7), to have a general measure of CF that could be applied to different contexts. Indeed, the CFQ-7 has become the most widely used self-report instrument for assessing CF in both clinical and research settings [ 11 ]. It is a brief, free, and easy-to administer and easy-to-score measure.…”