Measuring the Cognitive Attentional Syndrome Associated with Emotional Distress: Psychometric Properties of the CAS-1

Abstract

The self-regulatory executive function model is the basis of metacognitive therapy and proposes that psychological disorders are caused by maladaptive beliefs about thinking (metacognitive beliefs) and a perseverative negative thinking style associated with them, named the cognitive attentional syndrome (CAS). The CAS-1 was devised and has been used as a clinical tool for assessment and monitoring of the cognitive attentional syndrome and underlying positive and negative metacognitive beliefs during the course of treatment. The aim of this study is to assess the psychometric properties of the CAS-1. Seven hundred and seventy-three participants completed a battery of self-report questionnaires at the cross-sectional level, and 431 individuals also completed the same measures 6 and 12 weeks later. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the proposed three-factor solution of the measure, and the factors demonstrated good internal consistency (α ranging from .77 to .89), convergent validity, incremental validity, stability and discriminative validity were satisfactory. Our findings support the continued use of the CAS-1 in clinical and research settings.