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Development and Validation of the Morphing Fear Questionnaire (MFQ)
Eva Zysk1, Roz Shafran2, Tim I Williams3
1Nottingham Trent University, Division of Psychology, Nottingham, UK.
Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy
|November 6, 2015
Summary
Morphing fears, a distressing symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), can now be reliably assessed using the Morphing Fear Questionnaire (MFQ). This new tool aids in recognizing and evaluating these often-obscure symptoms.
Area of Science:
- Psychiatry
- Clinical Psychology
- Psychometrics
Background:
- Morphing fears, or transformation obsessions, involve concerns about acquiring undesirable characteristics from others, often linked to mental contamination.
- These fears are associated with significant distress and functional impairment in individuals, particularly those with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
- A validated assessment tool is crucial for identifying and quantifying morphing fears.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and evaluate the Morphing Fear Questionnaire (MFQ), a novel measure for assessing morphing fears.
- To examine the psychometric properties of the MFQ, including its factor structure, reliability, and validity.
- To establish the clinical utility of the MFQ in differentiating individuals with and without OCD.
Main Methods:
- Development and evaluation of the 13-item Morphing Fear Questionnaire (MFQ).
- A study involving 900 participants: 140 with current OCD (SR-OCD) and 760 without OCD (N-OCD).
- Psychometric analyses included exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, reliability testing, and validity assessments (convergent and discriminant).
Main Results:
- Factor analyses supported a robust one-factor structure for the MFQ, consistent across OCD and non-OCD groups.
- The MFQ demonstrated high internal consistency and good temporal stability.
- The MFQ showed strong convergent validity with related constructs (OCD symptoms, mental contamination) and discriminant validity from unrelated measures (depression, anxiety), and effectively differentiated between clinical groups.
Conclusions:
- The Morphing Fear Questionnaire (MFQ) is a psychometrically sound and clinically useful tool for assessing morphing fears.
- The MFQ can facilitate the recognition and assessment of morphing fears, which may otherwise be overlooked as OCD symptoms.
- This measure will enable further research into the prevalence, correlates, and treatment of morphing fears.
