The Spanish version of the Believability of Anxious Feelings and Thoughts Questionnaire.

Background: Cognitive fusion is suggested to play an important role in the etiology and maintenance of anxiety disorders according to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. This study presents the psychometric data of the Spanish version of a cognitive fusion measure in the context of anxiety: the Believability of Anxious Feelings and Thoughts Questionnaire (BAFT).

Method: First, we back-translated the BAFT into Spanish and then, administered it to three samples, with a total of 598 participants, in addition to other relevant anxiety measures.

Results: Data were very similar to those obtained with the original BAFT version. The BAFT showed a very good internal consistency (overall α= .92) and a hierarchical factor structure with two lower-order factors and one hierarchical factor. Participants showing mild levels of anxiety symptoms scored higher on the BAFT than participants who scored below the cutoffs. BAFT scores were significantly related to anxiety symptoms and to measures of psychological inflexibility, anxiety sensitivity, and mindfulness facets. Moreover, the BAFT showed incremental validity relative to anxiety sensitivity.

Conclusions: This Spanish version of the BAFT emerges as a reliable and valid measure of cognitive fusion with anxious thoughts and feelings.