The development and validation of the Beliefs About Losing Control Inventory (BALCI)

ABSTRACT

Cognitive theory of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) proposes that maladaptive beliefs play a pivotal role in the development and maintenance of symptoms. Clinical reports as well as recent psychometric and experimental investigations suggest that control-related beliefs in OCD may benefit from expansion to include aspects of losing control. However, currently available measures either focus on other facets of control (e.g., sense of control) or do not put emphasis on beliefs about losing control (e.g., beliefs about control over thoughts). The current study aimed to develop and validate the Beliefs About Losing Control Inventory (BALCI), a self-report measure of negative beliefs about losing control, in a sample of undergraduate participants (N= 488). An exploratory factor analysis revealed that the BALCI’s 21 items capture negative beliefs about losing control over one’s thoughts, behaviour, and emotions (Factor 1), beliefs about the importance of staying in control (Factor 2), and beliefs about losing control over one’s body/bodily functions (Factor 3). The BALCI was also found to have good convergent and divergent validity and to be associated with elevated OCD symptoms above and beyond previously identified obsessive beliefs. Theoretical implications and recommendations for the field of cognitive-behaviour therapy are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Beliefs
• losing control
• OCD
• scale development
• assessment

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Stefanie Lavoie, Edmine Sérulien, and S. Rachman for their contributions to this study. The second author is grateful for having received a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and a Doctoral Training Scholarship from the Fonds de recherche du Québec—Santé.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The final BALCI is available for public use from the corresponding author.

2. Given the strong zero-order correlation between the BALCI and ASI (r= .69, p< .001), a hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to ensure that these are not redundant measures. ASI scores were entered at step 1 of the regression analysis predicting VOCI scores and explained a significant amount of variance, R²_adjusted = .44, p <.001. BALCI scores were entered at step 2 and significantly increased the amount of variance explained, R²_change = .04, p < .001.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada under Grant number 435-2017-0922.