Validity of the Control Preferences Scale in patients with emotional disorders

The Control Preferences Scale (CPS) is the most frequently used measure of patients' preferred roles in treatment decisions. The aim of this study was to provide data about the validity of CPS in psychiatric care of patients with emotional disorders.

The original CPS was translated to Spanish using the process of cross-cultural adaptation of self-reported measures as the methodological model for Spanish translation. The final version was tested in a convenience sample of 621 consecutive psychiatric outpatients (461 depressive and 160 anxiety disorders) that also completed the Shared Decision-Making Questionnaire, the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scale, the Drug Attitude Inventory, and a questionnaire including sociodemographic and clinical variables.

CPS showed a moderate internal consistency and a good convergent validity. Patients with collaborative and passive preferences expressed a greater reliance on psychotropics. Patients preferring a collaborative role self-reported greater perception of involvement in decision-making about their treatment. Patients preferring a passive role showed a greater external health locus of control. The most common preferred role was the collaborative-passive. Older patients and those under longer treatments preferred a passive role, while patients with higher levels of education preferred a collaborative role.

The CPS is a valid measure of the amount of control that psychiatric outpatients with emotional disorders want to assume in the process of making decisions about their treatment.