Development and validation of a Disorganised Thoughts Scale: a new measure to assess thinking difficulties in the general population

Steven Love; Lee Kannis-Dymand; Kerry Armstrong

doi:10.1186/s40359-024-01988-z

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Development and validation of a Disorganised Thoughts Scale: a new measure to assess thinking difficulties in the general population

Journal article

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Development and validation of a Disorganised Thoughts Scale: a new measure to assess thinking difficulties in the general population

Steven Love, Lee Kannis-Dymand and Kerry Armstrong

BMC Psychology, Vol.12, pp.1-15

2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-024-01988-z

PMCID: PMC11412006

PMID: 39300589

Appears in UniSC Diversity and Inclusion Research Collection

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Abstract

Disorganised thinking

Disordered thinking

Psychosis

Self‑regulation

Questionnaire

UniSC Diversity Area - Disability and Inclusion

Background Disordered thinking is a condition that can manifest in not only clinical cases (e.g., psychotic disorders), but also the wider general population. However, there is no current method to measure the specific cognitive processes experienced during such a condition. Therefore, this study aimed to develop a new self-report measure, the Disorganised Thoughts Scale (DTS), that can assess disorganised thinking in the general population. Methods To achieve this aim, a survey was developed and shared online with four independent samples, including a sample of Australians in the general population (N = 321) and three samples (N = 200 each) that were controlled for their substance use (i.e., frequent alcohol and cannabis use; non-frequent substance use). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, and reliability analyses, were used to test the internal validity, whilst correlational analyses were implemented to examine the external validity. Results The exploratory factor analysis revealed a two-factor structure (10 items each) measuring Positive thought disorder (i.e., accelerated, uncontrollable, and incongruent thinking) and Negative thought disorder (i.e., inhibited, disjointed, and disorientated thinking). This internal structure was confirmed with subsequent confirmatory factor and reliability analyses (α = 0.90 to 0.97) in the three substance-controlled groups. Concurrent validity was also supported, as the DTS exhibited strong correlations with established measures of general cognitive difficulties, specific self-regulatory dysfunctions, and psychopathological symptomology. Finally, the measure was also shown to be significantly higher in cohorts who exhibited a higher degree of psychological distress and who frequently used substances (i.e., alcohol and cannabis). Conclusions Overall, this study provided preliminary evidence to suggest that the DTS is a sound measure of disorganised thought that is linked to psychopathology and substance use in non-clinical populations. The measure could be used in future research which seeks to better understand how thinking effects, and is affected by, various psychological conditions.

Details

Title: Development and validation of a Disorganised Thoughts Scale: a new measure to assess thinking difficulties in the general population
Authors: Steven Love (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Road Safety Research Collaboration
Lee Kannis-Dymand (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Health - Psychology
Kerry Armstrong (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Road Safety Research Collaboration
Publication details: BMC Psychology, Vol.12, pp.1-15
Publisher: BioMed Central Ltd.
Date published: 2024
DOI: 10.1186/s40359-024-01988-z
ISSN: 2050-7283
PMID: 39300589; PMC11412006
Copyright note: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
Data Availability: The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, SL. The data are not publicly available due to ethical restrictions.
Grant note: This research was funded by the Motor Accident Insurance Commission.
Organisation Unit: Road Safety Research Collaboration; School of Health - Psychology; School of Law and Society; Sustainability Research Cluster
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991064798902621
Output Type: Journal article

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