Questionnaire methods of cognitive self-statement assessment

Questionnaire methods can be used to assess thoughts, which are cognitive products often referred to as self-statements, automatic thoughts, or internal dialogue. This review examines the nature of endorsement measures of self-statements and considers their advantages and disadvantages as well as scoring issues. A psychometric evaluation of self-statement questionnaires discusses the issues of reliability, content validity and scale development, criterion validity, construct validity, and clinical utility. Descriptions of and psychometric findings for over 2 dozen measures are summarized, including measures for depression, anxiety, eating disorders, pain, and applications with children and adolescents, and conclusions and future directions are suggested.