Developing a shortened measure of negative thinking for use in patients with heart failure.

Objective: Negative thinking is a target for treatment of depressive symptoms in patients with heart failure (HF). A brief instrument is needed to measure negative thinking in these patients. The study objective was to shorten the Crandell Cognitions Inventory (CCI) for use in patients with HF.

Methods: Baseline data from outpatients with HF (N = 179, 30% were female, age 60 ± 13 years) were used to evaluate psychometrics of the CCI. Internal consistency reliability was measured with Cronbach's alpha construct validity with hypothesis testing. Principal components analysis was used in shortening. A separate sample of hospitalized patients with HF (N = 77, 49% were female, age 66 ± 11 years) was used to validate the shortened CCI (CCI-SF).

Results: The CCI showed evidence of reliability and validity, but there was item redundancy in outpatients with HF. The 12-item CCI-SF showed good evidence of reliability and validity in inpatients with HF.

Conclusion: The results support the reliability and validity of the CCI-SF to measure negative thinking in hospitalized patients with HF.