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. 2022;46(6):1157-1169.
doi: 10.1007/s10608-022-10318-9. Epub 2022 Jul 19.

How do close others to those with anxiety feel about treatment? Development and validation of the Treatment Concerns Questionnaire-Close Others

Olivia A Merritt  1 , Karen Rowa  2   3 , Christine L Purdon  1
Affiliations

How do close others to those with anxiety feel about treatment? Development and validation of the Treatment Concerns Questionnaire-Close Others

Olivia A Merritt et al. Cognit Ther Res. 2022.

Abstract

Background: The close others (e.g., family members, romantic partners) of people with anxiety and related disorders are typically involved in their treatment decisions. However, we know little about close others' attitudes towards and concerns about their loved one starting cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT).

Methods: Study one surveyed close others of those with anxiety and related disorders (n = 33) about their concerns about their loved one starting CBT. Thematic coding was completed, and items were developed to reflect these themes, comprising a measure of treatment concerns in close others. Study two involved the administration of the novel measure to a larger sample (n = 287) to evaluate its structure, reliability, and validity.

Results: Close others endorsed having treatment concerns of moderate intensity. The final 17-item measure, the Treatment Concerns Questionnaire-Close Others (TCQ-C), has a robust four-factor structure, with internally consistent subscales including "Adverse Reactions", "Personal/Family Consequences", "Lack of Commitment", and "Ineffectiveness". The measure shows moderate correlations with treatment expectations (convergent validity) and small correlations with respondent distress (discriminant validity).

Conclusions: The value of this measure for clinicians and future directions for research are discussed.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10608-022-10318-9.

Keywords: Anxiety and related disorders; Family; Psychometric evaluation; Social context; Therapy; Treatment ambivalence.

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Conflict of interest statement

DeclarationsThe authors have no known conflicts of interest that are relevant to the content of this article. This work was supported by Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada [Insight Grant 118049]. This research has been reviewed and received ethics clearance through a University of Waterloo Research Ethics Committee (#40041 and #41835) and informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study. The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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