The psychometric properties of the Committed Action Questionnaire-8 among general and clinical population

Background: Committed action (CA) is a core process within the Psychological Flexibility model.CA refers to persistent and flexible patterns of values-based and goal-directed actions. There is evidence showing that CA is positively associated with better adjustment in patients with chronic pain, as well as with greater quality of life and general mental health. The Committed Action Questionnaire-8 (CAQ-8; McCracken et al., 2015) is a short scale that was developed to measure two dimensions (positive and negative aspects) of CA. The CAQ-8 proved adequate psychometric properties in patients with chronic pain, but few evidence exists about its psychometric properties in general population samples. Methods: The present study explored the psychometric properties of the CAQ-8 in a general population sample, and compared them with those from a sample of patients with chronic pain. Participants were 535 adults from the general population (72% females), and 143 adult patients with chronic pain (68% females) recruited from the Unit of Anaesthesiology and Pain Therapy at the Santa Chiara Hospital of Pisa (Italy). Results: The CAQ-8 demonstrated adequate reliability and validity in both samples. The results from this study supported the two-factor structure of the CAQ-8 in both samples, but the factors did not correlate each other in the clinical sample. Conclusion: Hence, findings from this study raise some concerns about the appropriateness of using the overall total score in clinical samples, suggest caution in comparison of general group and clinical group using the CAQ-8 total scores.