[The psychometric properties of the Inferential Confusion Scale based in Turkish patients with obsessive-compulsive...

Among the influential cognitive factors in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), inferential confusion is a cognitive bias, which is described as the acceptance of possibilities as reality in contrast to sensory information. The present study aimed to determine the role of this construct in a clinical sample, and to test the cross-cultural validity of inferential confusion and to determine the psychometric properties of the Inferential Confusion Scale (ICS) in a Turkish clinical sample.

The study included a group of patients with OCD and other anxiety disorders, and a control group, both of which were administered the ICS, Eysenck Personality Questionnaire- Revised and Abbreviated Form (EPQR-A), Obsessive-Compulsive Beliefs Questionnaire (OBQ), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Trait Anxiety Inventory (TAI), and Padua Inventory-WSUR. One-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was performed for group comparisons, while Pearson's Product Moment Correlation test was used to examine interrelationships among the variables.

ANCOVA analysis results indicate that OCD patients expressed more concern on the ICS, which had satisfactory reliability values, and this difference remained when controlled for depression and anxiety. In addition, inferential confusion was positively associated with OCD symptoms and relevant cognitive measures; thus, it seems that the Turkish version of the ICS is a reliable and valid instrument for the evaluation of inferential confusion. Furthermore, as with responsibility-threat estimation and depression, inferential confusion was one of the cognitive factors that differentiated the OCD patients from the controls and was a significant predictor of OCD symptoms, beyond other cognitive variables.

In accordance with the literature, the findings of the present study show that the Turkish ICS is a reliable and valid measure for use in Turkey, and that inferential confusion is a critical cognitive factor with an important role in OCD.