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European Portuguese Validation of the Thought Control Questionnaire Insomnia-Revised (TCQI-R)

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Abstract

Individuals with insomnia complaints often report intrusive thoughts. In this sense, strategies to cope with cognitive arousal are a key topic to be addressed. The TCQI-R is a self-reporting instrument aimed at evaluating the strategies used by individuals to control their thoughts during insomnia episodes. The aim of this study was to translate and adapt the thought control questionnaire insomnia-revised (TCQI-R) for the Portuguese population. In the current study, a community-dwelling sample of 802 participants was recruited, aged between 18 and 66 years, of whom 163 were men and 639 women (80%). The principal component analysis found five components: reappraisal, cognitive distraction, aggressive suppression, worry and behavioral distraction. Both the general questionnaire (α = 0.91) and the components showed good internal consistency (Cronbach’s α between 0.74 and 0.84). Through the analyses carried out, it was possible to conclude that the instrument has a good discriminatory capacity between individuals with and without "insomnia". It was also found that the use of worry and aggressive suppression strategies was associated with greater insomnia severity, anxiety, depression, and thought catastrophizing, whereas the use of cognitive distraction strategy was associated with lower severity of insomnia, anxiety, depression, and thought catastrophizing. The results of the current study are in line with the published literature on the TCQI-R. The TCQI-R seems to be a useful tool for the assessment of intrusive thoughts’ control strategies.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank all the participants for their availability.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Education and Psychology, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal

    Carlota Nóbrega, Ana Luísa Correia & Daniel Ruivo Marques

  2. Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Coimbra, Rua Do Colégio Novo, 3000-115, Coimbra, Portugal

    Ana Allen Gomes

  3. CINEICC—Center for Research in Neuropsychology and Cognitive Behavioral Intervention, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    Ana Allen Gomes & Daniel Ruivo Marques

  4. Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Rua Larga, 3004-504, Coimbra, Portugal

    Maria Helena Pinto de Azevedo

Authors
  1. Carlota Nóbrega
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  2. Ana Luísa Correia
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  3. Ana Allen Gomes
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  4. Maria Helena Pinto de Azevedo
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  5. Daniel Ruivo Marques
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Correspondence to Daniel Ruivo Marques.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Nóbrega, C., Correia, A.L., Gomes, A.A. et al. European Portuguese Validation of the Thought Control Questionnaire Insomnia-Revised (TCQI-R). J Rat-Emo Cognitive-Behav Ther 39, 355–374 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10942-020-00377-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10942-020-00377-w

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