Metacognitive beliefs in depressed in-patients: adaptation and validation of the short version of the Metacognitions Questionnaire (MCQ-30) for French clinical and non-clinical samples.

Background: The short form of the Metacognitions Questionnaire (MCQ-30) is a brief multi-dimensional measure which explores the metacognitive processes and beliefs about worry and cognition that are central to the vulnerability and maintenance of emotional disorders.

Aims: The first aim of the study was to create and validate a French version of the MCQ-30 in a non-clinical and a clinical sample of depressed in-patients.

Method: A French adaptation of the MCQ-30 was administered to a sample of 467 individuals from the general population and 73 hospitalized patients with major depressive disorder. Internal consistency was measured by Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficients. Factor structure was assessed using a confirmatory factor analysis on the non-clinical group and a multi-trait-multi-method analysis on the psychiatric group. Criterion validity was explored by comparing the scores of the two samples. Measures of rumination, worry and depression were used to explore convergent validity.

Results: Confirmatory factor analysis in the non-clinical sample indicated that the French version of the MCQ-30 has the same factor structure as the MCQ-30's original five-factor solution. In the clinical sample, the multi-trait-multi-method analysis revealed discrepancies with the original factor structure, and the MCQ-30 and its subscales were less reliable. Our results provide evidence of a convergent validity. The MCQ-30 scores were also able to discriminate between psychiatric and non-clinical samples.

Conclusions: Our results show that the French version of the MCQ-30 is a valid instrument for measuring metacognitive beliefs in non-clinical population. Further research is needed to support its use among depressed in-patients.